Five restaurants and one chef in the Seattle area were selected as finalists for the 2023 winners of the James Beard Award, which is called the Oscars of the American culinary industry.
Aaron Burzos of Hillman City-based Archipelago is the only Northwest North American region to be nominated for Best Chef, and sisters Yenby Pham and Cooin Pham, who run a series of South Vietnamese noodle restaurants in the Seattle area, are “Outstanding Restaurateurs.” ‘ was nominated.
The Pham family has been running a Vietnamese noodle restaurant without rumors for 40 years, but it grew explosively when two 2-year-old sisters joined the business.
The sisters opened a “Hello M” coffee shop in Little Saigon in 2021, and a few months later opened “Pacific Standard Time,” an oriental cocktail restaurant.
Ballard’s ‘Copine’ restaurant was nominated for ‘Best Restaurant of the Year’ and competed for the gold medal with restaurants like ‘Lucia’ in Dallas and ‘Friday-Saturday-Sunday’ in Philadelphia.
Belltown’s Rob Roy cocktail bar was also shortlisted for the “Outstanding Bar” category, while Pullman’s “Black Cypress” restaurant was shortlisted for the “Outstanding Hospitality” category.