At the James Beard Awards gala, held at the Lyric Opera of Chicago this evening, Ann Kim, chef-owner of Young Joni restaurant in Minneapolis, took home the James Beard award for Best Chef: Midwest. A former actress turned restaurateur, Kim opened her first restaurant, a pizzeria, in Minneapolis in 2010. Young Joni, featuring globally influenced, wood-fired cuisine and pizza, opened in late 2016. This was Kim’s second nomination for the Best Chef: Midwest Award.
Vicia chef and co-owner Michael Gallina was also nominated for the same award. This was the first year that Gallina received a semifinalist or finalist nomination.
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This year’s Best Chef: Midwest finalists included another chef named Michael and three chefs from Minneapolis: Michael Corvino (Corvino Supper Club & Tasting Room in Kansas City), Jamie Malone (Grand Café in Minneapolis), and Christina Nguyen (Hai Hai in Minneapolis), in addition to Ann Kim.
Three other St. Louis chefs received semifinalist nods this year: Lona Luo of Lona’s Lil’ Eats, Jesse Mendica of Olive + Oak, and Ny Vongsaly of Billie-Jean. Gallina was the only one to advance to the finals.
A St. Louis chef has taken home the Best Chef: Midwest award twice in the past five years. Gerard Craft of Niche Food Group won in 2015, and Kevin Nashan of Sidney Street Café and The Peacemaker Lobster & Crab Co. won in 2017.
While it’s rare for a chef to receive the award with only a nomination or two, it’s not uncommon to garner a handful nods without winning. When Craft won, for instance, he’d been a finalist six times in seven years and four in a row.
When asked today for his reaction to last night’s awards gala, Gallina was predictably modest: “As cliche as it sounds, it really was such an honor to be nominated and something I’m really proud of. I’m proud of our team at Vicia and humbled by how supportive the city, and especially our guests, have been since we opened and in the lead up to the awards. Winning would be great, but seeing our restaurant included last night amongst the incredibly talented chefs and restaurants nominated put the weight of it in perspective. I’m going to keep pushing and working hard to make a great restaurant and place to work for our team, regardless.”
Gallina and his wife, Tara, opened the vegetable-forward Vicia in early 2017 in the Central West End’s Cortex Innovation Community, and the accolades rolled in almost immediately.
Eater named Vicia one of the 12 best new restaurants in the nation, followed by a shout-out from Bon Appétit as one of the 50 best new restaurants in America. Esquire put Vicia on its list of 18 best new restaurants. Voters in the USA Today 10 Best Readers’ Choice Awards proclaimed Vicia its No. 2 best new restaurant for 2017. And in May of last year, Gallina was named to Food & Wine‘s annual list of best new chefs in America.
St. Louis Magazine sang the chef’s praises as well, nominating Gallina to its prestigious A-List Dream Team in 2017 as “visionary chef.” A few months later, SLM named Vicia No. 1 among 50 of the metro area’s best new restaurants.
The Gallinas keep Vicia’s event calendar busy: Last week, the restaurant hosted a traditional Filipino eat-with-your-hands kamayan dinner in its outdoor dining room. Last Saturday was the Bagel Brain Pop Up with bagel fanatic Scott Sandler from Pizza Head. The annual Mother’s Day Market is May 11, and the #TeamVicia Series continues this spring with cooking classes held once a month. Guests continue to rave about Vicia’s value-driven lunch and the $85 tasting menu available at night.
