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    • Wine
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    • Belmont
    • Central Eastside
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    • St. Johns
    • Sellwood-Moreland
    • Williams
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    • Columbia River Gorge
    • Mount Hood
    • Oregon Coast
    • Willamette Valley
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Kate Loftesness

James Beard Award-winner Gabriel Rucker in the tiny open kitchen at Le Pigeon. James Beard Award-winner Gabriel Rucker in the tiny open kitchen at Le Pigeon.
i
James Beard Award-winner Gabriel Rucker in the tiny open kitchen at Le Pigeon.
Culture / Food

James Beard Award-Winning Chefs

Portland's most decorated chefs cook up a lot of attention and some seriously awesome eats.

Updated Nov. 20, 2020 3 min read

Kate Loftesness

The James Beard Awards, named for the eccentric chef and Portland native who revolutionized the American dining scene in the 20th century, are the nation’s highest annual culinary honor. With such a talked-about and delicious food scene, it comes as no surprise that Portland chefs have racked up a few James Beard Awards over the years.

Recent James Beard Winners in Portland

Here are some of the most notable chefs recently bestowed with the honor:

Joshua McFadden

Book: Vegetable-Focused Cooking – 2018

After earning a Best Chef: Northwest nomination in 2017, the Ava Gene’s chef picked up a 2018 prize for Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables, which features 225 recipes highlighting veggies at their prime.

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 for the past three years. Sample their acclaimed Argentinian-inspired, wood-fired cooking at OX.

Naomi Pomeroy

Best Chef: Northwest – 2014

Legendary chef and local celebrity Naomi Pomery won Best Chef: Northwest in 2014, after being nominated in the category in 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013. Try her meaty prix-fixe meals at the acclaimed Beast, or enjoy cocktails and Burmese-inspired fare at her nearby bar Expatriate.

Know Before You Go

Beast is currently on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, chef Noami Pomeroy has transitioned the restaurant to a new concept, Ripe Cooperative – a community marketplace.

Gabriel Rucker

Best Chef: Northwest – 2013

The Best Chef: Northwest winner in 2013 gained recognition for his unique and adventurous take on French cuisine at the east side’s Le Pigeon. Additionally, Rucker won Rising Star Chef of the Year in 2011 and was nominated in both categories two other times. Cook yourself some James Beard Award-worthy food from his 2013 cookbook, Le Pigeon: Cooking at the Dirty Bird.

In 2018, Rucker expanded his empire with the opening of Canard, an innovative wine bar with sophisticated but playful snacks.

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 in Northwest and Ken’s Artisan Pizza in Southeast.

Vitaly Paley

Best Chef: Northwest – 2005

This beloved local chef, who was also nominated in 2003 and 2004, has two restaurants in Portland where he showcases his signature simple, elegant preparations of Pacific Northwest cuisine. The seminal Paley’s Place Bistro & Bar has been highly regarded by locals and critics since coming on the scene in 1994. In 2012, Paley opened Imperial inside downtown’s Hotel Lucia, which closed in 2020 due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on local restaurants. In 2016, he took over the restaurant in the Heathman Hotel; Headwaters marries Pacific Northwest seafood with Paley’s French training and Russian heritage.

Greg Higgins

Best Chef: Northwest – 2002

This pioneer of whole-hog cooking and farm-to-table dining in Portland was one of the first Portland chefs to garner national attention when he won the Beard Award in 2002. Enjoy his still-stellar cooking at the eponymous Higgins Restaurant downtown.

Desired Dining

Restaurants loved by critics and patrons alike

Portland for Foodies

Mixing fresh, local ingredients with a colorful community of inventive chefs, Portland's restaurant scene is a recipe that can't be recreated anyplace else.

ノンズ・カオ・マン・ガイのオーナー、ノン・プーンスクワッタナ

Portland, as Eaten on TV

Portland’s lauded food scene tastes as good as it looks on TV — so don't turn that dial, and check out these local restaurants and chefs in the limelight.

Pine State Biscuits\' Reggie Deluxe is stacked high with buttermilk-fried chicken, a fried egg, cheddar, bacon and sausage gravy.

Portland’s Favorite Dishes

The best way to savor Portland’s most iconic dishes? One bite at a time. Check out a few of the locals' favorite foods.

Notable James Beard Award Nominees in Portland

Here are some more of Portland’s Beard Award-nominated chefs and where to eat their food:

Peter Cho

Best New Restaurant nominee – 2017
Best Chef Northwest nominee – 2019

  • Han Oak

Katy Millard

Best Chef: Northwest nominee – 2017, 2018, 2019

  • Coquine

Justin Woodward

Best Chef: Northwest nominee – 2017, 2018, 2019

  • Castagna

Bonnie Morales

Best Chef: Northwest nominee – 2018

  • Kachka
  • Kachinka

Gregory Gourdet

Best Chef: Northwest – 2018

  • Departure

Narumol (Nong) Poonsukwattana

Best Chef: Northwest – 2018

  • Nong’s Khao Man Gai – Downtown
  • Nong’s Khao Man Gai – Eastside

Sarah Minnick

Best Chef: Northwest – 2018

  • Lovely’s Fifty Fifty

Ryan Roadhouse

Best Chef: Northwest nominee – 2017, 2018

  • Nodoguro

Jose Chesa

Best Chef: Northwest nominee – 2017

  • Ataula

Ha (Christina) Luu

Best Chef: Northwest nominee – 2017

  • Ha VL
  • Rose VL Deli

Maya Lovelace

Rising Star Chef of the Year nominee – 2017

  • Mae
  • Yonder

Kristen Murray

Outstanding Pastry Chef nominee – 2017, 2018

  • Måurice

Cathy Whims

Best Chef: Northwest nominee – 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

  • Nostrana
  • Oven and Shaker
  • Enoteca Nostrana
Food

Resources Elsewhere Online

James Beard Foundation

Full list of Portland winners and nominees

Chefs in the Spotlight

More Food & Drink
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This Southern chef puts diners under a spell with her spin on classic Appalachian cuisine.

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Chef Salimatu Amabebe Showcases Nigerian Recipes and Black Artists

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Chef Carlo Lamagna Brings Filipino Food to the Forefront in Portland

Opening in spring 2019, Magna explores the wide world of Filipino cuisine.

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Two Women to Watch in Portland’s Southern Food Scene

Satisfy those comfort food cravings at these women-led restaurants and food carts.

Bertony Faustin is Oregon\'s first recorded Black winemaker.

Meet Bertony Faustin, Oregon’s First Black Winemaker

Oregon’s first Black winemaker, Bertony Faustin has been building community since 2007, when he launched his small-batch winery, Abbey Creek

Black brewer Lee Hedgmon crafts beer and spirits at Portland’s Ground Breaker Brewing and McMenamins Edgefield, defying stereotypes about race and the beer industry.

Portland Brewer Lee Hedgmon Defies Stereotypes About Beer and Race

Sample Hedgmon’s one-of-a-kind stouts and spirits at Edgefield and Ground Breaker.

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