The James Beard Foundation on Wednesday announced the finalists for the 2023 Restaurant and Chef Awards, and three Portland restaurants and one Ashland restaurant were among the honorees.
Chef Gregory Gourdet’s Haitian-inspired Kann was among the 10 finalists for the Best New Restaurant Award, which recognizes places demonstrating excellence in cuisine, atmosphere and hospitality, with an eye toward the broader dining community. It’s the latest in a string of honors for Kann, which was named America’s best new restaurant by Esquire magazine last year.
Related: Read The Oregonian’s review of Kann.
In the Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific category, Oregon finalists include Joshua Dorcak, of Ashland’s MÄS, along with Portland chefs Vince Nguyen, Berlu, and Thomas Pisha-Duffly, Gado Gado. Rounding out the finalists for the awards are Beau Schooler, chef at In Bocca Al Lupo in Juneau, Alaska, and Aaron Verzosa, of Archipelago in Seattle.
The foundation also announced the recipients of the 2023 Leadership Awards, which honors individuals or groups that promote a safer, more healthful, equitable and sustainable food world. Among the six honorees is the Portland-based Burgerville Workers Union, which in 2021 negotiated the country’s first-ever fast-food union contract. The contract included wage increases, paid vacation time, in-store tipping at unionized locations, and an end to at-will employment at five of the fast-food chain’s stores in the Pacific Northwest, and has inspired union action at other food service businesses.
Winners will announced at the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards ceremony on June 5 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
— Grant Butler
503-221-8566; gbutler@oregonian.com; @grantbutler
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