Phila Lorn of Mawn wins a major James Beard chef award

Phila Lorn has emerged, all right.

Lorn, the chef who, with his wife, Rachel, own Mawn, a Cambodian noodle house that is one of Philadelphia’s hottest reservations, was named the year’s Emerging Chef at the 2025 James Beard Awards ceremony in Chicago Monday night.

The South Philadelphia-raised Lorn, 39, is the youngest of five children born to Cambodian refugees. Lorn, whose parents named him after their adopted city, called the award “a dream.” After thanking the Beard Foundation and his wife, Lorn dedicated his award to the idea of “having confidence and owning what you do as a craft.”

“I want to dedicate this award also to assumptions — the assumption that Mawn was just another restaurant, it was too small, it wasn’t focused enough, that the food wasn’t going to be good enough or authentic enough, I wasn’t popular enough,” he told the audience at the Lyric Opera.

“Also, the assumption that this little Cambodian boy wasn’t going to come out where they put him,” Lorn said. “When I found out I was nominated for this award, the assumption was, I was going to win it.” The crowd burst into laughter and applause.

Backstage, when asked what the award meant, he said: “I feel like it just means that we’re doing things the right way and that we can continue to do things how we do it, quote unquote with no rules.”

Mawn, a snug BYOB that opened in late 2023 with bold dishes from all over Southeast Asia, clearly has captured the magic of its storefront on Ninth Street near Catharine, previously occupied by Kalaya before its move and expansion to Fishtown.

Kalaya chef-owner Chutatip “Nok” Suntaranon won the 2023 award for Best Chef Mid-Atlantic after being a finalist the year before. Kalaya also was a finalist in 2020 for Best New Restaurant.

Philadelphia’s last winner in the Emerging Chef category, when it was known as Rising Star Chef, was Camille Cogswell, then pastry chef at Zahav, in 2018. She is now a baker in North Carolina.

Another 2025 winner with Philadelphia-adjacent ties is Vijay Kumar of Semma, who won Best Chef New York. Semma is owned by Unapologetic Foods, which will open its restaurant Adda in Fishtown later this year.

Friday Saturday Sunday’s Lovers Bar was a finalist for Outstanding Bar. Two Philadelphia chefs — Amanda Shulman of Her Place Supper Club and Jesse Ito of Royal Izakaya & Sushi (an eight-time finalist) — were finalists for Best Chef Mid-Atlantic, whose winner was Carlos Delgado for his work at Washington, D.C.’s Causa.

Philadelphia shined at Saturday night’s James Beard Media Awards as Inquirer critic Craig LaBan won the Craig Claiborne Distinguished Criticism Award for a submission of three reviews: Honeysuckle Provisions (the earlier restaurant from Omar Tate and Cybille St.Aude-Tate), Octopus Cart (a quirky Center City food cart), and Loch Bar (a seafood restaurant in Center City). Last year, LaBan — who also won the award in 2000 — and Inquirer photographer Jessica Griffin won in the Dining & Travel category for articles following chef Dionicio Jimenez and restaurateur-spirits mogul David Suro to their hometowns in Mexico, as well as a roundup of LaBan’s favorite dishes from the trip.

Lorn’s win Monday night clearly will not ease the demand for Mawn, whose 1,300 dinner reservations are gone the moment they’re released each month. Walk-ins can join a line at lunch Thursday through Saturday.

The Lorns are looking for a late-July opening of their next restaurant, a Southeast Asian-inspired oyster bar called Sao, a riff on his immigrant parents’ pronunciation of “South” as in “South Philly,” at 1710 E. Passyunk Ave.