8 James Beard semifinalist nods for Twin Cities area talent
A day after the Academy Award nominations, the Twin Cities food world was abuzz over a strong showing in its own version of the Oscars: the Beards.
Eight Twin Cities area chefs and restaurants are semifinalists for the 2024 James Beard Foundation awards.
The high-profile culinary awards, widely viewed as the industry's highest honors, recognize and celebrate excellence in restaurants and food media. The restaurant awards fall into 10 national categories and 12 regional categories. This year, several local representatives are getting nods in national categories:
In Outstanding Chef category: Daniel Del Prado for Porzana, Minneapolis; Best New Restaurant: Oro by Nixta, Minneapolis; Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker: Marc Heu of Marc Heu Patisserie Paris, St. Paul; and Outstanding bar: Meteor, Minneapolis.
In the Best Chef: Midwest category, four chefs are being recognized, Ann Ahmed for Khâluna, Minneapolis; Christina Nguyen for Hai Hai, Minneapolis; Karyn Tomlinson for Myriel, St. Paul; Lisa Carlson and Carrie Summer of Chef Shack, Bay City, Wis.
Prolific chef and restaurateur del Prado faces 19 other chefs from around the country on the long list for Outstanding Chef. He was in the middle of a yoga class when he got the news. "I got like 100 texts," he said. "I don't think it's just Porzana. It's everything that my team does every day. I stand behind all of them."
Since he opened Porzana in summer 2023, the ambitious Argentine steakhouse has invigorated a corner of the North Loop where the famed Bachelor Farmer restaurant once stood.
"Del Prado's flourishes are everywhere," wrote Star Tribune restaurant critic Jon Cheng in his three-star review. He called Porzana "the kind of restaurant we never thought we'd need."
Del Prado was previously a semifinalist for a regional award in 2020 and 2019 for his restaurant Martina.
The other three national semifinalists from the Twin Cities are all newcomers to the Beards.
"I always hoped that when we were ready, I knew that I wanted to nominate Marc, and I felt like this was the year to do it," said Gaosong Heu, who co-owns Marc Heu Pâtisserie Paris with her husband. "His excellence, his dedication to his community, his team, and the impact he wants to make not only as a chef but also as a Hmong American and Hmong French chef, if he were to be chosen, it would be a great opportunity for our Hmong community."
The bakery expanded last year from a small counter in Frogtown to a full-fledged cafe at Selby and Dale, where the young couple is rewriting the story of French food. Heu grew up in French Guiana. He left a medical career to pursue the art of laminated dough perfection with few Asian role models in the French pastry world. He and his wife first launched the bakery in 2019 with only $200.
"It's been a huge adventure and it's just crazy that when I look at myself as a little boy from the jungle, I guess that little boy was able to do something when they told him he's not good enough," Heu said.
What's next for Heu? "I have a batch of croissant dough I have to laminate."
Oro by Nixta, a semifinalist for the competitive Best New Restaurant category, the category Owamni won in 2022. Oro was the Star Tribune's 2023 Restaurant of the Year, and in his review Cheng praised how chef Gustavo Romero's "artwork celebrates the tapestry of Mexican cultural heritage..." via his signature tortillas, for which he uses nixtamalized corn. "We ate quietly, marveling at the way the tortillas draped like thick, expensive fabric; the way they cradled their delicious fillings," Cheng wrote.
"Holy [expletive]!" said Robb Jones, the owner of Meteor Bar, who had just woken up after a night of celebration (and karaoke) with his staff when he received word that they had been recognized as one of the top bars in the country. "It's overwhelming."
Jones, who previously ran beverage programs for high-profile restaurants, opened the dive bar in late 2019, and, despite the pandemic interruptions, it quickly became a late-night industry hot spot known for its classically steeped cocktail list.
Jones said looking through the impressive list of the other 19 semifinalists, he was also struck by how small his bar and his crew is in comparison. Jones and his family had renovated the small "black box" in Near North. "The coolest part of this is that my team did this. I always say that we're nowhere near anything else. If someone walks into this bar, it's on purpose. And someone came here and thought we were cool. My team took care of them." What's next for the Meteor crew? Most hadn't woken up yet to share in their success with Jones.
The list will be trimmed further in April, when the James Beard Foundation releases its list of nominees. Last year was the first time in two decades that no Minnesota chefs were recognized in the final list in the Best Chef: Midwest category. In 2022, Owamni by the Sioux Chef brought home the national win for Best New Restaurant.
Best Chef: Midwest
The Best Chef: Midwest award recognizes "chefs who set high standards in their culinary skills and leadership abilities, and who are making efforts to help create a sustainable work culture in their respective regions while contributing positively to their broader community." The category encompasses Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
Three of this year's Minnesota semifinalists were also semifinalists last year.
Karyn Tomlinson, chef/owner of Myriel was caught off guard by the Wednesday morning announcement, "Oh, I didn't know!" she said.
This is her third time being recognized as a semifinalist, twice for Myriel and once for her work at the now-shuttered Corner Table in 2019. "It does make a difference in the business and it is certainly an encouragement to my staff, who work so hard every day to execute our vision with excellence and grace," she said.
Tomlinson opened Myriel during the pandemic and grew the business from takeout-only to an intimate eatery in St. Paul's quiet Mac/Groveland neighborhood. The three-star restaurant won accolades for Tomlinson's "whole-hog and farm-to-table narrative."
"I'm grateful," she said.
Summer, a pastry chef who co-owns the seasonal Chef Shack with her spouse, chef Carlson, was "ecstatic" when she heard the news.
"Lisa is in Peru and I just got off the phone with her. She was painting a picture and I go, 'Are you sitting down?' She's thrilled," Summer said. "It's a huge recognition and it's remarkable for business, for all of us who push to do good work, push to do sustainable purchasing and try to make ends meet — this is amazing."
Chef Shack was a semifinalist in 2017 and 2018.
Ahmed was a semifinalist for Khâluna in 2023, and Nguyen for Hai Hai in 2018 and 2023; in 2020, Nguyen moved on in the competition to become a finalist.
Established in 1990, the James Beard Awards are often described as the Oscars of the food world. The 2024 awards ceremony will take place in Chicago on June 10.
For a complete list of the semifinalists, go to jamesbeard.org.
This is a developing story.
