Asian American chefs "represent" at James Beard awards

Benchawan Jabthong Painter was one of four Thai chefs to win a Best Chef award.

More and more, the cuisines of Asia are opening the eyes and doors of American fine dining. Asian American chefs captured eight of the 12 Best Chef regional awards handed out in ceremonies in Chicago last week.

It was a big night June 5 for Asian American chefs but it was an exceptional event for Thailand. Four of the regional chef winners serve up Thai cuisine meaning they won one-third of the regional Best Chef awards.

FYI: The complete list of James Beard winners.

“It means a lot for me,” said Houston's Benchawan Jabthong Painter on the night of her win for her work at Street to Kitchen. Adorned in a black gown with a colorful shawl made by Thai designer Nata Fashion, she said: “I’m just the girl who grow up with a family business.”

“I always make sure … I feel like I’m back home again. This is the food that you get when you go to a friend’s house, not like a restaurant or business,” she said. “I want to show you how good my grandma cooks and how happy I feel when I try her food.” Now, she’s expanding her repertoire, building upon her made-to-order cooking experience of Thai street and comfort foods, and into the world of luxe-tasting menus, a deliberate and timed experience that requires each guest to be served multiple dishes at various times.

Kasama owners Tim Flores and Genie Kwon celebrate their James Beard Award. 

Tim Flores, chef/owners of Kasama of Chicago followed up its first-ever Michelin star award last year with a James Beard award, sometimes referred to as the Oscar of US food scene.

Flores and his wife, Genie Kwon, pointed to the impact their James Beard award may have on broader perceptions of Filipino cuisine. “To be recognized for cooking my mom’s food is insane,” said Flores as he accepted the award. 

Kasama functions as a cafe during the day as a showcase for Kwon’s pastries and a few savory items from Flores, such as a Filipino American version of an Italian beef combo using longanisa sausage and shaved adobo pork. At night, it turns into a fine dining establishment with a tasting menu highlighting Flores' culinary roots.

ELLEN YIN

Ellen Yin, of High Street Hospitality Group (Fork, a.kitchen + bar, High Street, and others), Philadelphia, PA was named an Outstanding Chef, an award for the chef who sets high culinary standards and has served as a positive example for other food professionals, while contributing positively to their broader community.

Yin has been a force in the Philadelphia culinary scene, cofounding the Sisterly Love Coalition to champion women in hospitality and leading relief efforts during the pandemic, as well as raising money for anti-Asian discrimination through the Wonton Project, inspired by her mother.

With partners, including chef Eli Kulp, Yin went on to open a.kitchen where she  continues her farm-to-table philosophy.

Margarita Manzke a Filipino American and co-owner of République, Los Angeles, was presented the James Beard award for Outstanding Hospitality, which is awarded to a restaurant, bar, or other food and drinking establishment that fosters a sense of hospitality among its customers and staff and that serves as a beacon for the community, and demonstrates consistent excellence in food, atmosphere, hospitality, and operations, while contributing positively to its broader community.

Walter and Margarita Manzke, who also operate restaurants in the Philippines and Sari Sari Store in Los Angeles' Downtown’s Grand Central Market, know that their new namesake restaurant is too expensive for most diners. They’re hoping to bridge those two perspectives by offering both luxury and relative value, at least with respect to the service provided and the scope of the products being used."

The "best chefs" in the 12 regions in the US are:

California 

• Justin Pichetrungsi, Anajak Thai, Sherman Oaks, CA 

Best Chef: Great Lakes (IL, IN, MI, OH) 

• Tim Flores and Genie Kwon, Kasama, Chicago, IL 

Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic (DC, DE, MD, NJ, PA, VA) 

• Chutatip “Nok” Suntaranon, Kalaya, Philadelphia, PA 

Best Chef: Midwest (IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD, WI) 

• Itaru Nagano and Andrew Kroeger, Fairchild, Madison, WI 

Best Chef: Mountain (CO, ID, MT, UT, WY) 

• Kris Komori, KIN, Boise, ID 

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Kris Komori brought the entire staff of KIN in Boise, Idaho to the Chicago awards.

Best Chef: New York State 

• Junghyun Park, Atomix, New York, NY 

Best Chef: Northeast (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT) 

• Sherry Pocknett, Sly Fox Den Too, Charlestown, RI 

Best Chef: Northwest & Pacific (AK, HI, OR, WA) 

• Vince Nguyen, Berlu, Portland, OR 

Best Chef: South (AL, AR, FL, LA, MS, PR) 

• Natalia Vallejo, Cocina al Fondo, San Juan, PR Best Chef: Southeast (GA, KY, NC, SC, TN, WV) 

• Terry Koval, The Deer and the Dove, Decatur, GA 

Best Chef: Southwest (AZ, NM, NV, OK) 

• Andrew Black, Grey Sweater, Oklahoma City, OK 

Best Chef: Texas 

• Benchawan Jabthong Painter, Street to Kitchen, Houston, TX 

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter or at his blog Views From the Edge.

Kasama - Filipino restaurant earns a Michelin star

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Tim Flores and Genie Kwon celebrate the Michelin star for their restaurant Kasama

A Filipino-themed restaurant in Chicago has been awarded a Michelin star, a coveted accolade in the culinary community. 

Kasama - owned by husband-and-wife couple of Filipino American Tim Flores and Korean American Genie Kwon - is now a one-Michelin star establishment, the Michelin Guide announced on April 7. Apparently, the only Filipino American restaurant to earn that distinction.

The 2022 Michelin Guide raved about how it “emphatically displays the talented team’s training, experience, and heritage for an experience that is ambitious, clever, and distinct.”

Michelin evaluators were impressed by Kasama’s contemporary fusion dishes, such as the maitake mushroom adobo sauced with mussel emulsion; pancit with thin squid ink noodles, scallop conserva, and shaved Serrano ham; and Chef Kwon’s sophisticated version of the halo-halo with Asian pear granita and pandan ice cream.

Flores and Kwon did not anticipate opening a fine dining restaurant when they debuted Kasama in July 2020. Their original idea was for a cafe with morning pastries baked by Kwon and a casual menu with sandwiches and lumpia from Flores in the afternoons.

Kasama, a Tagalog word translates to "companion," or "date." It opened almost two years ago just as the pandemic was starting in the East Ukranian Village neighborhood of Chicago as a bakery and a restaurant serving modern Filipino cuisine located in the East Ukranian Village neighborhood of Chicago.

Nearly two years later, Kasama features a 13-course tasting menu — one that includes lumpia — has brought joy to diners, especially within the Filipino American community. That may not have been Flores’s intention, but he's proud his creations and interpretations of traditional Filipino dishes have been accepted and promoted by Filipino American diners.

“So many people have teared up at dinner,” Flores tells Eater. “It was never my goal, The goal was just to make good food (that) I grew up eating, not to help Filipino Americans get in touch with their roots.”

Philippine cuisine, a blend of Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, American and indigenous influences, has been gaining in popularity in recent years as the more adventurous Gen X and Gen Z are willing to expand their palates.

According to the culinary magazine Chef's Pencil, it’s “an awful shame” that Filipino cuisine had been excluded from the list of fantastic food experiences often dominated by European countries and the more familiar East Asian cuisines.

A 2020 survey conducted among 250 chefs by Chef’s Pencil which ranked the top three South-Asian countries, namely the Philippines (1), Thailand (2), and Vietnam (3), among the world’s five most underrated foodie destinations.

The chefs that were interviewed in November last year ranked the Philippines in first place among the three cuisines in the list which is dedicated to “incredible destinations” that “don’t get the exposure they truly deserve” as well as higher recognition in the culinary world.

"It is still hard to believe what this industry has been through since the beginning of 2020," the Kasama team wrote on Instagram. "To make it here and to be recognized by the @michelinguide is truly beyond anything we could have ever imagined."

It’s one of Eater’s Best New Restaurants in America. Chicago Tribune restaurant critic Louisa Chu reviewed Kasama in December and she hailed it as one of the best restaurants in the world.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AAPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.