The James Beard Foundation held its annual Restaurant and Chef Awards (aka the Oscars of the food world) on Monday in Chicago. The South’s big winners showed a flair for cultural fusion and fine dining with a delicious side of farm-to-table dedication.
Best Chef: South
Serigne Mbaye, Dakar NOLA, New Orleans
When Dakar NOLA opened in 2022, local foodies and critics were quick to welcome its seafood-only, Senegalese-inspired fare into New Orleans’s ongoing melting pot of cuisines. On accepting his award, visibly moved chef and co-owner Mbaye returned the favor by saying, “I have to give everything to the South, especially the city of New Orleans. It’s where I finally felt free to be fully myself, where my community embraced what I have to offer and made me feel like I belong. I truly believe that food cooked from the soul heals people.”
Best Chef: Southeast
Taylor Montgomery, Montgomery Sky Farm, Leicester, North Carolina
You know a chef is good when he wins such prestigious recognition without an actual restaurant to his name. Located near Asheville, the fifty-acre Montgomery Sky Farm focuses on regenerative agriculture, heirloom produce, and animal rescue. But for bimonthly harvest dinners and private events, chef-turned-farmer Montgomery relies on his fine-dining background and pulls out all the stops with seasonal ingredients beautifully plated and served at a communal long table in the barn. Montgomery described the farm as “a mission,” one shared by the fifteen-person-strong team that group-hugged behind him on stage.
Best Chef: Texas
Evelyn Garcia and Henry Lu, JŪN<br /> , Houston
Apparently, two cooks are not too many in the kitchen, at least not a celebrated kitchen with a “new Asian American” menu that also draws from Texas traditions with flavor-bomb dishes such as brisket in peanut curry and sesame oil and heirloom grits with dried beef gravy and cured egg yolk. “Houston, I love you so, so much,” Garcia enthused at the podium. “Our amazing city is made from creatives, from first generations like we are. It is a city of dreams and hopes and has taught me there is room for everyone. There is space to tell our story.”
Emerging Chef
Adrian Torres, Maximo, West University Place, Texas
For anyone who’s never experienced a tasting menu at a Mexican restaurant, Torres’s five-course, gourmet journey is a revelation, making stops at huitlacoche tacos and hanger steak with truffle mole before arriving at a decadent chocolate cremoso. Doffing his cowboy hat to have the Beard medallion placed around his neck, Torres offered a glimpse into his immigrant story. “Tonight the headline is that a brown kid from the Northside [of Houston] raised by parents who sacrificed everything for the chance at a better life is standing on this stage accepting one of the highest honors in this industry,” he told the crowd, which responded with a standing ovation.
Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker
Susan Bae, Moon Rabbit, Washington, D.C.
Now there’s extra incentive to leave room for dessert at the “reimagined Vietnamese” eatery in downtown D.C.’s Penn Quarter neighborhood that’s already been named among North America’s fifty best restaurants. One of three chef-owners, Bae, who was nominated in the category in 2024 and 2025, is known for leading an all-female pastry team and using nature as aesthetic inspiration for her playful, highly creative treats. Many of them sound like several desserts in one—the menu-staple green curry sponge cake, for instance, might arrive dressed in avocado sorbet, soursop mousse, fish caramel sauce, and finger lime. Two spoons, please.
Steve Russell is a Garden & Gun contributing editor who also has written for Men’s Journal, Life, Rolling Stone, and Playboy. Born in Mississippi and raised in Tennessee, he resided in New Orleans and New York City before settling down in Charlottesville, Virginia, because it’s far enough south that biscuits are an expected component of a good breakfast.
