Will Owamni by the Sioux Chef, Minnesota's first full-service Indigenous restaurant, be named the country's Best New Restaurant by the James Beard Foundation? Find out tonight as the James Beard Foundation Awards resume in Chicago after a two-year hiatus.
The high-profile awards, widely viewed as the industry's highest honors, recognize and celebrate excellence in restaurants, cookbooks and journalism. The restaurant awards fall into 10 national categories and 12 regional categories. Here are the awards details, including how to watch and who from Minnesota is nominated:
Watch live: The Beard Foundation will livestream the event from their official Twitter account, @beardfoundation. The ceremony starts at 5:30 p.m. at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Star Tribune reporter Joy Summers also will be reporting from Chicago; follow her at @JoyEstelle and read our full story at startribune.com.
Think nationally: Owamni, in the Best New Restaurant category, is the only Twin Cities restaurant nominated for a national award. It pits the groundbreaking Minneapolis restaurant from Sean Sherman and Dana Thompson against 10 others from around the country and is one of the most competitive categories. It honors a restaurant that "opened in 2020 or 2021 that already demonstrates excellence in cuisine and hospitality and seems likely to make a significant impact in years to come." Owamni opened in 2021 to national acclaim and was named the Star Tribune's Restaurant of the Year.
Regional awards have a cultural flair: Sherman is also on the shortlist as a finalist in the Best Chef Midwest regional category. He faces competition from two other local chefs, Petite León's Jorge Guzmán and Union Hmong Kitchen's Yia Vang. Notably, all three are showcasing the cuisine of their cultures at their Minneapolis restaurants. Sherman, who was born in Pine Ridge, S.D., is Oglala Lakota. Guzmán was born in Mexico City, and Vang, who is Hmong, came to the U.S. as a child refugee. The Best Chef Midwest category is one of 12 regional chef awards and includes Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas. Minnesota had a relatively strong showing among the nominees — three of the six are from here — despite having garnered its fewest semifinalists in recent years.
Beard veterans: Sherman previously had been recognized by the James Beard Awards as a cookbook author and received a James Beard Leadership Award in 2019, but this is his first year inside his restaurant, located on a site sacred to the Dakota and Anishinaabe people. Guzmán was previously a nominee in this category, in 2017, and a semifinalist in 2016, for his work at Surly's Brewer's Table. But this recognition is for his work at Petite León, a restaurant he has an ownership claim in.
And a Beard debut: This is Vang's first Beard nomination, a remarkable achievement for the chef who has built his reputation with a roving restaurant that didn't have a permanent address until moving to Graze Provisions and Libations food hall last fall.
Past local winners: Talent runs deep in the Twin Cities. Six local chefs are previous Best Chef: Midwest winners: Tim McKee (formerly of La Belle Vie) in 2009, Alex Roberts (Restaurant Alma) in 2010, Isaac Becker (112 Eatery) in 2011, Paul Berglund (formerly of the Bachelor Farmer) in 2016, Gavin Kaysen (Spoon and Stable) in 2018 and Ann Kim (Young Joni) in 2019. Kaysen is Minnesota's only national James Beard award-winning chef; he was named Rising Star Chef of the Year in 2008 during his tenure at Cafe Boulud in New York City.
