Las Vegas has 3 finalists for 2023 James Beard Awards
Two Las Vegas chefs and the city’s leading wine bar have been named 2023 finalists in the James Beard Foundation Restaurant and Chef Awards, the Oscars of the food world.
Chef Oscar Amador of Anima by EDO, a Spanish-meets-global restaurant, and chef Kaoru Azeuchi of Kaiseki Yuzu, a destination for multicourse kaiseki meals, are finalists in the Best Chef: Southwest region, with two chefs from Oklahoma City and a chef from the Navajo Nation in New Mexico. The region covers Nevada, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona.
“It is really incredible. I’m shocked and so excited to be a finalist,” Amador said. “I’m so happy to share this with my team and our city.”
Garagiste Wine Room is a finalist for Outstanding Bar, a national category in which Garagiste competed with establishments from across the U.S. The other finalists are from Honolulu, Kansas, Texas and Seattle.
“It’s still sinking in. It’s pretty insane, it’s pretty incredible, and honored, and all the emotions I’m filled with right now,” said Eric Prato, sommelier and owner of Garagiste. “Never did I imagine that this was going to happen. People are understanding what we’re trying to do, what we’ve been doing. To get this recognition on a national stage says we’re doing something right.”
Winners of the Restaurant and Chef Awards will be announced June 5 at a ceremony in Chicago.
Chef Yip Cheung of Red Plate in The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas and chef Jimmy Li of ShangHai Taste, who were named semifinalists in the Best Chef: Southwest category in January, did not move on to the finalist round.
Contact Johnathan L. Wright at jwright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ItsJLW on Twitter.
