Here Are the Twin Cities’ 2024 James Beard Finalists

Three local chefs and restaurants are on the Beard Foundation’s short list this year

Out of a pool of seven 2024 semifinalists, three Twin Cities chefs and restaurants have been named James Beard Award finalists this year. Oro by Nixta is nominated for Best New Restaurant, a national category, while chefs Ann Ahmed of Khâluna and Christina Nguyen of Hai Hai are nominated for Best Chef, Midwest.

This is a first-time nomination for chefs Gustavo and Kate Romero of Oro by Nixta, who expanded their tortilleria and takeout operation into full-service restaurant in May 2023, serving tlayudas, blue corn chochoyotes, and crispy soft-shell crab tacos and furthering their mission of helping to preserve Mexico’s 59 remaining heirloom corn varieties. Oro won Eater Twin Cities’ 2023 restaurant of the year award.

Chef Ann Ahmed was a 2023 semifinalist for her Lao and Southeast Asian menu at Khâluna (one of Eater’s Best New Restaurants in America for 2022). The founder of suburban restaurants Lemon Grass and Lat14, Ahmed brought Khâluna and her newest restaurant, Gai Noi, to Minneapolis in 2021 and 2023, respectively, offering a fine dining menu of duck laab and bucatini talay at the former and a fast-and-fun, no-reservations experience at the latter.

The Beard Foundation has recognized chef Christina Nguyen’s work a number of times — she was a 2018 semifinalist and a 2020 finalist in the national Best Chef category, and a semifinalist for Best Chef, Midwest in 2023. Hai Hai, with its enduring Vietnamese menu of water fern cakes and crispy banh xeo, was one of Eater’s Best New Restaurants in America in 2018.

This year, the Beard Foundation also gave semifinalist nods to Dani del Prado of Porzana (Outstanding Chef), Marc Heu of Marc Heu Pâtisserie Paris (Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker), Meteor (Outstanding Bar), and Karyn Tomlinson of Myriel (Best Chef, Midwest).

Find the full list of 2024 finalists here. Winners will be announced at a ceremony in Chicago on Monday, June 10.

Disclosure: Some Vox Media staff members are part of the voting body for the James Beard Awards. Eater is partnering with the James Beard Foundation to livestream the awards in 2024. All editorial content is produced independently of the James Beard Foundation.