The 2024 James Beard Awards at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Top Culinary Industry Award Shows Name the Best of 2024

This year's James Beard Awards and World’s 50 Best Restaurants were announced within the same week.

Courtesy of Eliesa Johnson Photography.

Abbe Lewis is a writer, editor, Emmy nominee and extreme nacho enthusiast with over a decade of experience in food and beverage media. Always on the move, Abbe can be found running long distances on the weekends to new restaurants or her favorite hangouts.

June 17, 2024

In early June, food lovers and culinary industry insiders saw two of the top-tier awards ceremonies pertaining to the industry: San Pellegrino’s World’s 50 Best Restaurants and the James Beard Awards.

The World’s 50 Best list was announced at a glitzy ceremony held at none other than the Wynn hotel in Las Vegas. Disfrutar, the three-Michelin-starred Barcelona restaurant from Chefs Oriol Castro, Eduard Xatruch and Mateu Casañas, took the number one spot.

The New York Times’ restaurant critic Pete Wells noted that many of the restaurants featured on the list, such as Alchemist in Copenhagen and Gaggan in Bangkok, are more than restaurants — they’re “immersive experiences,” that “normal people can’t get into.”

Stateside, Chefs JP and Elia Park’s two-Michelin-starred Atomix took the top US spot at number six, while three-Michelin-starred SingleThread Farms in Healdsburg, California landed at number 46. Both establishments, as well as Atomix’s sister restaurants, Atoboy and Naro, have served as externship sites for students at the Institute of Culinary Education.

The James Beard Awards, held at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, boasted a similar caliber of winners in an evening filled with success.

Hosted by Chefs Nyesha Arrington, Richard Blais, Amanda Freitag and Marcus Samuelsson, it was a sold-out show, with industry professionals gathering for the announcement of the Restaurant and Chef awards.

Chef Michael Rafidi of one-Michelin-starred Albi in Washington, D.C. nabbed the Outstanding Chef award. Arabic for “my heart,” Albi is an homage to Chef Rafidi’s Palestinian roots with coal-fired cuisine coming out of the wood-burning hearth.

In New York, Chef Charlie Mitchell of one-Michelin-starred Clover Hill in Brooklyn (where Culinary Arts graduate Sam Caucci hails as Sous Chef), took home Best Chef for New York State.

Chef Lord Maynard Llera was awarded Best Chef: California for his Filipino restaurant Kuya Lord in Los Angeles. Serving up traditional Filipino fare, Kuya Lord is self-described as an “elevated fast-casual restaurant concept.”

Dakar NOLA, Chef Serigne Mbay’s modern Senegalese tasting menu concept in New Orleans, won Best New Restaurant, and Lula Café, a charming crowd favorite in Chicago by Jason Hammel and Amalea Tshilds, won for Outstanding Hospitality.

It was a week that’s given us a lot to chew on — with a bucket list of eateries around the globe to consume.

Congratulations to all nominees and winners. Until next year.

View the full list of the World’s 50 Best List here.
View the full list of the 2024 James Beard Awards winners here.