CHICAGO– From Pho shops in Seattle to an East African restaurant in Detroit, an eclectic mix of restaurants and chefs are competing for the coveted James Beard Awards, which will be announced on Monday at a ceremony in Chicago.
More than 100 restaurants are finalists in 22 categories in the culinary world’s equivalent of the Oscars. Simply being a finalist can bring broad recognition and boost business. The most anticipated categories include awards for excellent restaurateur, chef and restaurant.
“People are working hard to make things happen and they know this can be a game changer,” said Tanya Holland, chair of the awards committee.
Restaurants apply for awards. The judges, who mostly remain anonymous, sample the cuisine before casting their votes. Nominees are evaluated on their diet and also on a behavioral code of ethics, including the way employees are treated.
Hamissi Mamba and Nadia Nijimbere, who fled Burundi about a decade ago and now own Baobab Fare in Detroit, are among the five finalists in the outstanding restaurateur category. The couple faced a difficult path when the refugees opened a business in the U.S.
The restaurant’s menu features kuku, fried chicken in a spicy mustard and onion sauce, served with fried plantains, boiled yellow beans and coconut rice. Mamba said the nomination is already a victory for them because they can inspire other people.
“We’re really happy about it,” Mamba said. “Hey, if Mamba and Nadia can do it, so can you.”
A Seattle family credited with bringing the first photography shop to the city in the 1980s is also a finalist for outstanding restaurateur with a trio of photography restaurants and a chicken and rice shop called The Boat.
Yenvy Pham, whose parents opened their first restaurant after immigrating from Vietnam, calls a bowl of her pho, with its meaty bone broth and aromas of fennel and clove, “the foundation” of her cooking. They make the soup fresh every day for 24 hours.
“We really love what we do,” she said.
The other finalist restaurateurs are Chris Viaud with three restaurants in New Hampshire, Hollis Wells Silverman with Eastern Point Collective which operates several restaurants in Washington, D.C., and Erika and Kelly Whitaker for restaurants in Boulder, Colorado.
The James Beard Foundation has given awards since 1991, except in 2020 and 2021, when the organization dropped them while the restaurant industry was recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. The foundation has also faced criticism for its lack of racial diversity and allegations about the behavior of some nominees. Foundation officials promised to improve ethical standards and be more “reflective of the industry.”
Some of this year’s finalists have already been praised, including Michael Rafidi, whose Washington, D.C. restaurant Albi was awarded the coveted Michelin star in 2022. He is among the five finalists as an outstanding chef.
Albi, which means “my heart” in Arabic, pays homage to Rafidi’s Palestinian roots using Old World food preparation techniques. Everything is cooked over charcoal, including grape leaves stuffed with lamb and sfeeha, a meat pie.
“The idea of showing Palestinian cuisine on a different level and in a different light is something that excited me,” he said.
Other top chef finalists include David Uygur for Lucia in Dallas, Sarah Minnick for Lovely’s Fifty Fifty in Portland, Oregon, Dean Neff of Seabird in Wilmington, North Carolina, and Renee Touponce for The Port of Call in Mystic, Connecticut.
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