Philly lands 6 James Beard Award nominations
Chefs Jesse Ito, Amanda Shulman, Dionicio Jiménez, and Chutatip ‘Nok’ Suntaranon all received nods. Ellen Yin is a nominee for outstanding restaurateur, and Friday Saturday Sunday is up for outstanding restaurant.
Philadelphia-area restaurant people are sprinkled through the list of finalists for the 2023 James Beard Awards, announced today.
Friday Saturday Sunday, Chad and Hanna Williams’ reinvention of a Philadelphia classic in Rittenhouse, made the list of five establishments nationwide contending for outstanding restaurant; the restaurant was a semifinalist in 2022.
Ellen Yin, who traded a career in health-care management a quarter-century ago to open Fork in Old City followed by a.kitchen/a.bar and High Street, is a finalist for outstanding restaurateur. Yin has been a finalist four times previously.
Amanda Shulman, a star in the Marc Vetri orbit who opened Her Place Supper Club near Rittenhouse Square in 2021, is a finalist in the emerging chef category. She was a semifinalist last year.
Philadelphians occupy three of the five finalist slots for best chef Mid-Atlantic: Jesse Ito of Royal Sushi (his fifth nomination), Chutatip “Nok” Suntaranon of Kalaya (her second), and Dionicio Jiménez of Cantina La Martina (his first). Kalaya was nominated for best new restaurant in 2020; no awards were given that year as the Beard Foundation underwent a year of reassessment.
The awards ceremony will be held June 5 in Chicago.
The semifinalist list, released in January, included a best chef nod for Shigeru Fukuyoshi of Sagami in Collingswood, which he opened in 1974. (Sagami was a semifinalist for best restaurant in 2017 and 2019.)
Heavy Metal Sausage Co., chef Patrick Alfiero and Melissa Pellegrino’s retail sausage and sandwich shop by day, pop-up tasting menu trattoria by night, was a semifinalist for best new restaurant.
Two semifinalists for best bakery were Denise’s Delicacies, Denise Gause’s North Philadelphia bakery, and Mighty Bread Co., Chris DiPiazza’s South Philadelphia shop, while Emily Riddell of Machine Shop was up for pastry chef or baker.
Vernick Food & Drink in Rittenhouse was a semifinalist for hospitality, beer specialist Monk’s Cafe in Center City made the early list for the category of outstanding wine and other beverages program, and Le Caveau, above the Good King Tavern in Bella Vista, was up for best bar.
All told, seven of the 20 semifinalists for best chef, Mid-Atlantic, were from the Philadelphia area. Among them were Andrew Henshaw of Laser Wolf in Kensington, Thanh Nguyen of Gabriella’s Vietnam in South Philadelphia, Philip Manganaro of Park Place Cafe in Merchantville, and Melissa McGrath of Sweet Amalia Market & Kitchen in Newfield.
Considered among the most prestigious restaurant industry prizes, the James Beard Awards were on a hiatus in 2020 and 2021 after concerns regarding racial equity and nominees’ behavior.
(Disclosure: Some current Inquirer staff members have served on or are part of the James Beard Awards voting body.)