A Philadelphia restaurant was named best in the country at the James Beard Awards

Philadelphia chef Chutatip “Nok” Suntaranon said she was crying, but no tears could be seen.

“This is something I wanted so bad,” she said.

And then, for just a moment, the lights caught the water in her eyes.

At the James Beard Foundation Awards on Monday night, often called the Oscars of food, the Southern Thai-born chef had just been named the best chef in the Mid-Atlantic at a packed ceremony in Chicago.

She was honored for her uncompromisingly bold-flavored Thai restaurant Kalaya, which she and her husband opened on the barest of shoestrings four years ago in Philadelphia.

Her mother, for whom she named her restaurant, simply won’t believe the success her daughter has found in the United States, said Suntaranon, interviewed by USA TODAY Network after receiving the award.

“When I go home, I'm still a daughter, a sister,” Suntaranon said. “I'm still the same person who left home years ago.”

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The James Beard restaurant awards have been continually mired in controversy for its lack of transparency, the makeup of the judging pool and a newfound yen for secretive ethics committees. But only at rare moments did those scandals surface during a fast-moving, tear-filled ceremony.

For the Philadelphia restaurant scene in particular, the 2023 James Beard Foundation Awards amounted to a coming-out party.

The big awards kept coming in for Philadelphia chefs: bigger and bigger awards.

There was Suntaranon’s win as best chef in the region, of course.

But the best restaurateur in the country? Also from Philadelphia.

Ellen Yin, whose High Street Hospitality Group gave birth to nationally acclaimed Fork and a.kitchen and others, said restaurants were the first place where she felt a true sense of belonging — a fact it took decades to recognize, after her beginnings at a Chinese restaurant and then the French restaurant around the corner in Rumson, New Jersey.

“To Philadelphia: You made me belong,” she said, her voice breaking as she praised a local food world that “represents our diversity, history, ethnicity, and resilience.”

The most outstanding restaurant in America this year? Also a Philadelphia restaurant: That was Friday Saturday Sunday, whose West Philly-raised chef Chad Williams scared his mother by leaving college at Howard University to become a chef.

He worked his way through Michelin-starred kitchens all over the world only to find his way back home, taking over Philly Rittenhouse mainstay Friday Saturday Sunday with his wife and partner, Hanna, evolving a neighborhood restaurant into a hall of beef-marrow butter and jerk-quail innovation.

Now, Williams called out to his mother to thank her for her support — even during those times when maybe she was worried he wasn’t making the right decision — before turning attention to his own child at home.

“Mommy and Daddy miss you and love you,” he said.

The 2023 James Beard Awards were full of firsts, but some states overshadowed

Philadelphia’s success came at the expense of the other states in the region: No one in New Jersey, Virginia or Maryland still had a dog in the race by the time of the ceremony. And Delaware was snubbed in the contest entirely: For the first time in years, no establishment or chef in Delaware was nominated publicly this year.

It should be noted, however, that Rob Rubba, anointed best chef in the country at Oyster Oyster in Washington D.C., is a South Jersey native: His bio has him growing up “surrounded by pinelands, bay and shore.”

The awards this year were full of firsts, tears and heartfelt gratitude.

The first Native American woman to win an award, chef Sherry Pocknett, of Rhode Island restaurant Sly Fox Den Too, accepted the prize in formal tribal dress and with a triumphant yelp of undisguised joy.

“I represent the whole Northeast Tribes, our cooking ways,” Pocknett said. “Whoo! This is a surprise.”

It was her grandmother’s birthday, she said, before revealing that she had cancer.

“I’m sure I'm not the only one in the room that does. But I’m almost through it! This honor is unbelievable,” she said, losing her capacity for words through choking emotion. “It’s something that I’ve never even dreamed of.”

Chef Natalia Vallejo of Concina Al Fondo in San Juan became the first chef from Puerto Rico to be honored — as best chef in America’s South.

She accepted in Spanish, thanking her family and her mother in particular, in a speech always on the verge of tears.

“Gracias,” she said, “and felicidades Puerto Rico.”

James Beard Awards triumphal in tone amid recent storms of controversy

The presenter for Vallejo’s award, Puerto Rican TV presenter Monti Carlo, also alluded to the din of controversy that has swirled around the James Beard Awards in recent years and weeks.

"This category, Best Chef: South, has brought more drama than a Mariah Carey concert!” said Carlo, before praising the awards’ first Puerto Rican woman to get a nomination.

In that category, Alabama chef Timothy Hontzas, of Johnny's Restaurant in Homewood, was announced as a contender: But in truth, he had already been disqualified.

Hontzas leaked this information to the Washington Post, saying he'd been declared ineligible after anonymous tips to the James Beard committee that he’d yelled at staff and customers, and a secretive ethics investigation process whose existence and results weren’t revealed even to others on the awards committee.

Sri Lankan chef and nominee Sam Fore told the New York Times she, too, had been investigated after anonymous complaints that she’d made “vague tweets” advocating against sexual violence. This was alleged to have violated the organization’s policy against bullying.

Fore was acquitted; Hontzas was disqualified.Some Beard judges and committee members, including USA TODAY Network’s Todd A. Price at the American South, resigned over the lack of transparency in these ethics investigations. Another chef, John Currence, publicly mutilated his James Beard award in protest.

This controversy came amid a wholesale reimagining of the James Beard Foundation Awards, amid the pandemic and protests following the police murder of George Floyd.

The 2020 awards were scrapped, and an article in New York Times reported that the awards had been embroiled in a behind-the-scenes controversy after the board discovered no Black chefs had won a prize. The foundation had long been criticized for historically favoring white, male and European-influenced chefs.After returning in 2022 with newly reconstituted board and judges, and explicit commitments to social justice, the majority of chefs and restaurateurs winning James Beard Foundation Awards have been people of color. In 2023, this was an overwhelming majority.

A broad range of cuisines was honored, whether Japanese-inflected fine dining at Kin in Boise, indigenous dining in Rhode Island or multiple Korean restaurants across the country. Suntaranon was joined by two other Thai chefs, as regional best chefs.

The best new restaurant award went to Haitian restaurant Kann, from chef Gregory Gourdet in Portland. Also honored from Portland was fine-dining chef Vince Nguyen, as best chef in the Northwest.

Here's the full list of 2023 James Beard Foundation Awards winners announced Monday

Outstanding Chef

Rob Rubba, Oyster Oyster, Washington, D.C.

Outstanding Restaurant

Friday Saturday Sunday, Philadelphia

Best New Restaurant

Kann, Portland, Oregon

Outstanding Restaurateur

Ellen Yin, High Street Hospitality Group (Fork, a.kitchen + bar, High Street Philly, and others), Philadelphia

Outstanding Hospitality

The Quarry, Monson, Maine

Emerging Chef

Damarr Brown, Virtue, Chicago

Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker

Margarita Manzke, République, Los Angeles

Outstanding Bakery

Yoli Tortilleria, Kansas City

Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program

Ototo, Los Angeles

Outstanding Bar

Bar Leather Apron, Honolulu

Best Chef: Midwest (IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD, WI)

Itaru Nagano and Andrew Kroeger, Fairchild, Madison, Wisconsin

Best Chef: Mountain (CO, ID, MT, UT, WY)

Kris Komori, KIN, Boise

Best Chef: South (AL, AR, FL, LA, MS, PR)

Natalia Vallejo, Cocina al Fondo, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Best Chef: Northeast (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT)

Sherry Pocknett, Sly Fox Den Too, Charlestown, Rhode Island

Best Chef: Southwest (AZ, NM, NV, OK)

Andrew Black, Grey Sweater, Oklahoma City

Best Chef: Southeast (GA, KY, NC, SC, TN, WV)

Terry Koval, The Deer and the Dove, Decatur, Georgia

Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic (DC, DE, MD, NJ, PA, VA)

Chutatip “Nok” Suntaranon, Kalaya, Philadelphia

Best Chef: New York State

Junghyun Park, Atomix, New York, NY

Best Chef: California

Justin Pichetrungsi, Anajak Thai, Sherman Oaks, California

Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific (AK, HI, OR, WA)

Vince Nguyen, Berlu, Portland, Oregon

Best Chef: Texas

Benchawan Jabthong Painter, Street to Kitchen, Houston, TX

Best Chef: Great Lakes (IL, IN, MI, OH)

Tim Flores and Genie Kwon, Kasama, Chicago

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: James Beard Awards 2023: Philly restaurants best in country, region