Denver chef wins James Beard Award for mountain region
On Monday, the James Beard Foundation announced its Restaurant and Chef awards winners for 2026, including one chef from Denver.
On June 15, the foundation recognized its selections for the best chefs, restaurants, and beverage professionals across the country at a gala event at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, often referred to as the "Oscars of the food world." More than 1,8000 people attended the sold-out event featuring food media personalities, entertainers and musicians.
As well as national awards for Outstanding Restaurateur, Emerging Chef, Best New Restaurant, Outstanding Pastry Chef and others, the foundation recognizes the most promising and innovative chefs in each region of the country. That includes the mountain region, which covers Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming.
This year, the mountain region winner is Chef Penelope Wong, owner of Yuan Wonton in Denver. Originally a mobile food truck, Wong's restaurant has grown in popularity over the years. It specializes in Asian comfort food and is particularly well known for its delicious dumplings.
Wong says her journey has been rooted in a fundamental adoration for the pure impact of cuisine and the need to never forget the flavors that carved her family's path to their future.
She was one of five finalists for Best Chef in the mountain region, which also included Chef Johnny Curiel at Denver's Alma Fonda Fina. This was Wong's fourth consecutive nomination as a semifinalist and third consecutive nomination as a finalist.
At the awards, Wong shared her excitement.
"I honestly didn't believe it. I thought I was seeing things, I thought I was hearing things," she said, laughing. "It was just a rush of emotions, and it was quite overwhelming. This was never the goal. I never dreamed or imagined that I would be up on this platform with so many other chefs that I have looked up to."
Wong says it's incredible to be recognized for cooking flavors from her childhood, and it pushes the idea of what American food culture can be.
"It's very emotional because, as a child, these are the flavors that, when you go to school with certain boxed lunches, you don't want to open them up because you're being made fun of for them. And to be celebrated for it is truly special," she shared.
