Congratulations goes to Maria Hines, owner of Tilth here in Wallingford and the Golden Beetle over in Ballard. Maria was one of over 80 chefs appointed by the U.S. State Department to the newly-created American Chef Corps under the Diplomatic Culinary Partnership with the James Beard Foundation. This means Hines and her peers will create meals for foreign dignitaries or, when necessary, will travel abroad to engage in public diplomacy programs. The announcement was made at the U.S. State Department last Friday, and Eater D.C. tells us that Hillary Rodham Clinton prepared a taped speech to welcome the crew:
“We’re …