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James Beard Award-Winning Restaurants in Portland
Portland's most decorated chefs cook up a lot of attention and some seriously awesome eats.
Kate Loftesness
From its incredible food carts to its award-winning culinary pop-ups and numerous specialty markets, Portland is a city that caters to foodies — and with such a delicious food scene, it’s no surprise that Portland chefs and their restaurants and bakeries have racked up quite a few James Beard Awards over the years.
The James Beard Awards, named for the pioneering Portland-born chef who revolutionized the American dining scene by celebrating local ingredients, are the nation’s highest annual culinary honor. The city will also honor the legacy of James Beard with the opening of the James Beard Public Market in downtown Portland in 2027.
Eat at James Beard Winning Restaurants in Portland
Each year, Portland restaurants, bars and chefs have a significant presence at the James Beard Awards. Here are the best places to eat award-winning food in Portland.
Find James Beard Award Winners
Eat food from James Beard Award-winning chefs at these fine Portland restaurants.
Jinju Patisserie
Outstanding Bakery – 2025
Know Before You Go
As of January 2026, Jinju Patisserie is temporarily closed while it moves to a new location. Please check the bakery’s site for details.
Portlanders have lined up for the exceptional desserts on offer at JinJu Patisserie since 2019, when the bakery opened on North Williams Avenue. Now the whole world knows — JinJu, helmed by Kyurim “Q” Lee and Jin Caldwell, took home the 2025 James Beard Award for Outstanding Bakery (they were finalists for the same award in 2024). The well-deserved honor celebrates tempting offerings like delectable bonbons, delicate croissants and savory tarts.
Kann and Sousòl
Gregory Gourdet, Best Chef: Northwest – 2024
Before winning Best Chef: Northwest in 2024, Gregory Gourdet was a three-time semifinalist in the category and a nominee in 2020. (Fun fact: you might also recognize Gourdet from his run on the television show “Top Chef”, where he was a finalist.)
Credit: Eva Kosmas Flores
Gourdet’s restaurant Kann, featuring wood-fired, gluten-free Haitian cuisine, won the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant in 2023. Just downstairs, Gourdet runs the luxurious cocktail lounge Sousòl (Haitian Creole for ‘basement’), offering grilled jerk chicken skewers, salted cot fritters, and a menu of cocktails, wine, beer and zero-proof cocktails. Previously, Gourdet was executive chef and culinary director of Departure at The Nines.
His book with JJ Goode, “Everyone’s Table: Global Recipes for Modern Health,” highlights vegetable-forward global dishes without gluten, dairy, soy, legumes or grains. It won the 2022 James Beard Award for Best Cookbook. Buy a copy at Vivienne Culinary Books, Portland’s independent, woman-owned cookbook store.
Ava Gene’s
Joshua McFadden, Best Cookbook: Vegetable-Focused Cooking – 2018
After earning a Best Chef: Northwest nomination in 2017, Joshua McFadden of Ava Gene’s picked up a 2018 prize for his cookbook, “Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables,” which features 225 recipes that promise to “coax the best from vegetables at each stage of their lives.”
Credit: David Alvarado
Find his food at Ava Gene’s, which offers “aggressively seasonal” Italian family-style food and delicious cocktails.
OX Restaurant
Greg Denton and Gabrielle Quiñónez Denton, Best Chef: Northwest – 2017
The married chef-owners at OX Restaurant took home the top regional honors in 2017 after earning nominations the previous three years. Sample their wood-fired, Argentinian-inspired cooking at OX.
Le Pigeon and Canard
Gabriel Rucker, Best Chef: Northwest – 2013
Outstanding Chef (semifinalist) – 2025
Gabriel Rucker gained recognition for his unique and adventurous take on French cuisine at the eastside eatery Le Pigeon, winning Best Chef: Northwest in 2013. Additionally, Rucker won Rising Star Chef of the Year in 2011 after being nominated four times. You can find some of his James Beard Award-worthy food recipes in his 2013 cookbook, “Le Pigeon: Cooking at the Dirty Bird“.
If you can’t find a seat at Le Pigeon, you might want to try your luck at Canard, his casual wine bar serving a more playful menu including one of Portland’s best burgers.
Credit: Stuart Mullenberg
Ken’s Artisan Bakery and Ken’s Artisan Pizza
Ken Forkish, Baking & Dessert Cookbook – 2013
Rounding out Portland’s most-recognized chefs is pastry virtuoso Ken Forkish, who was an Outstanding Pastry Chef nominee in 2011 and 2013, and won in 2013 for his cookbook “Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast“. Get your fill of his baked goods at Ken’s Artisan Bakery and Ken’s Artisan Pizza.
Higgins Restaurant
Greg Higgins, Best Chef: Northwest – 2002
Greg Higgins pioneered whole-hog cooking and farm-to-table dining in Portland and was one of the first Portland chefs to garner national attention when he won the Beard Award in 2002. Enjoy his still-stellar cuisine at the eponymous Higgins Restaurant downtown.
James Beard Award Nominees in Portland
Portland has many James Beard Award-nominated chefs — here’s where to eat their food:
Lovely’s Fifty Fifty
Sarah Minnick, Outstanding Chef nominee (semifinalist) – 2025, 2024
Best Chef: Northwest nominee (semifinalist) – 2018
You may have seen James Beard Award-nominated chef Sarah Minnick’s wood-fired, seasonal pizzas on her episode of “Chef’s Table” — now try them for yourself at Lovely’s Fifty Fifty.
Nodoguro
Ryan Roadhouse, Best Chef: Northwest nominee (semifinalist) – 2025, 2024
Ryan Roadhouse, who serves a multi-course sushi omakase menu at Nodoguro, was nominated for Best Chef: Northwest in 2024 and 2025.
Coquine
Katy Millard, Outstanding Restaurant nominee (semifinalist) — 2025
Outstanding Hospitality nominee (semifinalist) – 2022
Best Chef: Northwest nominee (finalist) – 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
Best New Restaurant nominee (semifinalist) – 2016
Coquine and its chef and co-owner Katy Millard have garnered numerous nominations and awards since the restaurant’s brick-and-mortar opening in 2015, where it serves seasonal food sourced from local farms.
Eem, PaaDee, Langbaan and Hat Yai
Akkapong “Earl” Ninsom, Best New Restaurant winner – 2024
Outstanding Restaurateur nominee (finalist) – 2022
Best New Restaurant nominee (finalist) – 2020
Restaurateur and chef Akkapong “Earl” Ninsom is a Portland staple with multiple delicious Thai food restaurants under his belt. Eem serves BBQ and cocktails, PaaDee offers Thai comfort food, Langbaan serves a fixed menu, and Hat Yai (with locations on Belmont and Killingsworth) focuses on fried chicken and curry.
Heavenly Creatures
Joel Gunderson, Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service nominee (semifinalist) – 2025
Heavenly Creatures is an intimate wine bar offering eclectic food pairings with its unique and extensive bottle selection.
Gado Gado and Oma’s Hideaway
Thomas Pisha-Duffly, Best Chef Northwest nominee (semi-finalist) – 2025
Best Chef Northwest nominee (finalist) – 2022
Best New Restaurant nominee (finalist) – 2020
Chefs Thomas and Mariah Pisha-Duffly drew inspiration from their travels and their diverse culinary backgrounds to create Gado Gado, earning Thomas several James Beard Award nominations. The bright, colorful restaurant serves authentic Indonesian fare, plus cocktails, beer and wine. Originally opened as a pop-up during the pandemic, Oma’s Hideaway serves food inspired by Southeast Asian night markets.
Scotch Lodge
Tim Artale, Outstanding Bar nominee (semifinalist) – 2025
Scotch Lodge is a must-try cocktail bar for whiskey lovers curated by Tommy Klus, with a playfully modern Pacific Northwest-inspired menu from chef Tim Artale.
Magna Kusina
Carlo Lamagna, Best Chef Northwest nominee (finalist) – 2022
Try chef Carlo Lamagna’s authentic Filipino comfort food dishes at Magna Kusina, which many Portlanders consider the best in Portland.
Berlu
Vince Nguyen, Best Chef: Northwest nominee (finalist) – 2022
Vince Nguyen was a finalist for Best Chef: Northwest for his work at Berlu, offering boundary-pushing Vietnamese food. Since then, Berlu has transitioned from a restaurant into a bakery offering exquisite baked goods and coffee in a bright, airy dining room — order the “One of Everything” for a taste of all their delicious offerings.
Mama Dút (now closed)
Thuy Pham, Emerging Chef nominee (semifinalist) – 2022
Mama Đút was a popular, plant-based Vietnamese eatery in Portland, Oregon, known for its veganized comfort food like mock pork belly banh mi and jackfruit waffles. It closed in 2023, but Pham announced that she is working on a cookbook to be released soon.
República
Lauro Romero, Olivia Bartruff and Roberto Torres, Best New Restaurant nominee (semifinalist) – 2022
Nominated for Best New Restaurant in 2022, República serves tasting menus of seasonal Mexican cuisine.
Han Oak
Peter Cho, Best Chef Northwest nominee (finalist) – 2020
Best Chef Northwest nominee (finalist) – 2019
Best New Restaurant nominee (semifinalist) – 2017
Han Oak serves an ever-changing preset menu of Korean food crafted with Oregon ingredients, with noodle and dumpling nights at the chic minimalist restaurant.
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Kachka
Bonnie Morales, Best Chef: Northwest nominee (finalist)– 2018
Bonnie Morales serves up Soviet-era Russian food at the legendary Kachka, named in 2025 by Portland Monthly as one of the “Restaurants that Made Portland”.
Non’s Khao Man Gai
Narumol (Nong) Poonsukwattana, Best Chef: Northwest nominee – 2018
The philosophy at Nong’s is simple — do one thing, and do it perfectly. Nong’s perfect dish is Khao Man Gai, chicken and rice topped with a sweet, garlic-y chili-and-soybean sauce.
Peter Vuong
Best Chef: Northwest (semifinalist) – 2024
Ha (Christina) Luu
Best Chef: Northwest (semifinalist) – 2017, 2018
Kristen D. Murray
Outstanding Pastry Chef nominee – 2017, 2018
Nostrana, Oven and Shaker, Enoteca Nostrana
Cathy Whims, Best Chef: Northwest nominee (finalist) – 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
Cathy Whims’ Nostrana is a stalwart of the Portland food scene, serving pasta and pizza for 20 years. Grab a glass of wine next door at Enoteca Nostrana. Its sibling pizzeria and cocktail bar Oven and Shaker greets visitors in the Pearl district and at PDX airport.
Portland, Oregon Winners of the James Beard Award
- JinJu Patisserie – 2025 Outstanding Bakery
- Gregory Gourdet – 2024 Best Chef Northwest & Pacific
- Langbaan – 2024 Outstanding Restaurant
- Kann – 2023 Best New Restaurant
- Vince Nguyen – 2023 Best Chef Northwest & Pacific
- Gabrielle Quiñónez Denton – 2017 Best Chefs in America Northwest
- Greg Denton – 2017 Best Chefs in America Northwest
- Naomi Pomeroy – 2014 Best Chefs in America Northwest
- Gabriel Rucker – 2013 Best Chefs in America Northwest
- Andy Ricker – 2011 Best Chefs in America Northwest
- Gabriel Rucker – 2011 Rising Star Chef of the Year
- Vitaly Paley – 2005 Best Chefs in America Northwest/Hawaii
- Greg Higgins – 2002 Best Chefs in America Northwest/Hawaii
- Philippe Boulot – 2001 Best Chefs in America Northwest/Hawaii
- Original Pancake House – 1999 America’s Classics
- Cory Schreiber – 1998 Best Chefs in America Northwest
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