Five Queens restaurants and chefs
are James Beard Award semifi nalists
Adda is among the five Queens restaurants and chefs nominated for a James Beard Award. Courtesy of Adda Indian Canteen
BY JENNA BAGCAL
Thirty-seven restaurants
and chefs across New York
City have been chosen as
semifinalists to win the
coveted James Beard Award,
and this year, five of them are
from Queens.
On Feb. 27, the James
Beard Foundation announced
the nominees for the 2019
Restaurant and Chef Awards,
which included Adda Indian
Canteen and Casa Enrique in
Long Island City, SriPraPhai
in Woodside, Dumpling Galaxy
in Flushing and Xi’an Famous
foods (multiple locations).
There are 21 categories for
the 29th annual Restaurant and
Chef Awards, including Best
New Restaurant, Outstanding
Chef, Outstanding Restaurant
and Rising Star Chef of the
Year. Hundreds of chefs and
restaurants across the country
were nominated for the awards
affectionately called “the
Oscars of the food world.”
Cosme Aguilar from
Casa Enrique (5-48 49th Ave.)
and Helen You of Dumpling
Galaxy (42-35 Main St.) were
nominated for the Outstanding
Chef: New York City category
alongside 18 other culinary
heavy-hitters in Manhattan
and Brooklyn.
Chef Aguilar from the
Michelin-star rated Casa
Enrique came from Chiapas,
Mexico and learned to cook his
mother’s traditional recipes
from his sister. He came to New
York in 1998 and got his start
in the restaurant industry as a
porter at a French restaurant
before opening Casa Enrique
in 2012. The Mexican
restaurant has been awarded
multiple Michelin stars since
its opening and was the only
Queens restaurant to get one
in 2019.
Tianjin Dumpling owner
You opened Dumpling Galaxy
at Flushing’s Arcadia Mall
in 2014. In her Dumpling
Galaxy cookbook, You
credits dumplings with
the successes that she’s
experienced throughout her
life. “Everything I have today
I owe to dumplings, and they
have always meant more than
just a good meal,” You said.
Her mom taught her how to roll
dumplings in her hometown of
Tianjin, China and she brought
the skill with her when she
came to the United States.
In the Best New Restaurant
category is Adda Indian
Canteen (31-31 Thomson Ave.)
which has been serving up
its “unapologetic” Indian
cuisine since last September.
Owner Roni Mazumdar and
Chef Chintan Pandya are
the culinary duo behind
Adda as well as Rahi in
Greenwich Village.
The pair crafted the menu
based on foods that they had
while growing up in India and
intended for the restaurant to
be a departure from the upscale
Indian eateries on the market.
Chef Pandya has been profiled
in the Michelin Guide and was
also awarded the StarChefs
Rising Star Award for 2019.
SriPraPhai (64-13 39th Ave.)
is also among the acclaimed
Queens establishments on
the nomination list. The
Thai restaurant in Woodside
is among the nominees for
Outstanding Restaurant and
was started by Sripraphai
Tipmanee in the 1990s. The
restaurateur also has another
location on Long Island.
Xi’an Famous Foods CEO
and president Jason Wang is up
for Outstanding Restaurateur.
Wang first opened the fastcasual
chain in 2005 and based
the recipes off of dishes from
his family’s hometown of
Xi’an in China. The first Xi’an
Famous Foods was located in
the basement of the basement
of the Golden Mall in Flushing
but has since expanded to
Manhattan and Brooklyn.
On Instagram, the owner
said that he was “honored
to be included as a Best
Restaurateur semifinalist
of James Beard Foundation
2019 Awards.”
According to the James
Beard website, the final
nominees will be announced
in Houston on March 27 and
the official gala will be on
May 6 at the Lyric Opera
of Chicago.
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