Win an Academy Award, wake up to a phone buzzing with job offers. Win the Oscar of food, wake up to a website buzzing with reservations requests.

That was certainly the case for Charleston, the Harbor East restaurant that took home a James Beard Award last week for its wine and beverage program.

“Yesterday, the phone was really ringing off the hook,” Charleston wine director Lindsay Willey said Friday. By that evening, guests were elbowing each other at the restaurant’s bar, leafing through the 50-plus-page leatherbound wine lists and toasting owner and chef Cindy Wolf as she made the rounds.

To supporters, Charleston’s triumph after dozens of nominations is long overdue. Wolf “should have gotten an award 20 years ago,“ said restaurant consultant Martha Lucius.

The recognition comes at an opportune time. Restaurants are weathering the uncertainty of the current economic and political climate.

Wolf, who co-founded Charleston in 1997 and became sole owner earlier this year, traveled to Chicago with Willey for the ceremony. Both were stunned to hear the restaurant’s name called last Monday.

“It felt way too big,” Willey said. In footage from the ceremony, they march toward the podium together, Wolf wiping her brow and mouthing, “Oh my God.”

Wolf’s acceptance speech, like many throughout the evening, was jubilant and appreciative, while also celebrating immigrants at a time of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and mass deportations. At least half the staff of Charleston was born outside the U.S., and most are Latino. Wolf thanked them in her speech, to cheers. “I love every Latino that works for me from the bottom of my heart,” she said.

Others at the ceremony took a more confrontational stance: “F–-k ICE,” said a friend of chef Noah Sandoval, accepting the Beard award for Best Chef: Great Lakes on his behalf.

But the Trump administration’s chilling effect on the hospitality industry isn’t limited to fears about immigration. His threats of steep tariffs on European wine and other imported products have sent purveyors and restaurant owners scrambling, while cuts to the federal workforce and research funding have prompted diners to tighten their wallets. At the same time, restaurants are still facing wild inflation and price increases that started during the pandemic.

In some ways, it’s as hard running a restaurant today as it was during the height of COVID, said Peter Keck, Charleston’s maître d’hôtel.

“Back in the COVID days we stopped asking ‘What’s next?’ because something showed up to answer the question,” he said. Yes, Charleston is “thriving” right now, Keck said, and Willey has only had to make small adjustments to the wine list in response to tariffs. Still, the restaurant depends on its workers and products to stay in business.

“Those things can change in a heartbeat, and we have virtually no control over it,” Keck said.

Winning a national award like the James Beard can help a place like Charleston weather a tumultuous period. Their boost in business has been particularly noticeable at the bar. “Sometimes we see a little bit of a slowdown in June,” Willey noted. But not this year.

The extra crowds caught the attention of first-time Charleston diner Matthew Amack, who stopped in to see what the fuss was about. He stayed for a cocktail, to sample the tasting menu — and to grab a selfie with Wolf.

Why the restaurant finally won in 2025 is “a bit of a mystery,” Willey said. While she’s constantly updating the beverage program to adapt to the ever-changing food menu, Willey said they “didn’t make some big shift internally” prior to the win.

But perhaps it’s best not to ask too many questions. Wolf’s fans have been wanting her to get recognized by the Beards for ages, and it finally happened.

“I think people are happy to have a happy headline,” Willey said, especially when the rest of the news seems so bleak.

For now, Willey is still figuring out how best to celebrate. Sharing a six-liter bottle of Champagne, she said, sounds like a good start.