The best restaurant in the land — is right here.
The James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurant is a crowning achievement for Kalaya chef Nok Suntaranon and the southern Thai perfection she dishes out in Fishtown.
The host of the “Oscars of the food world” noted the only bad thing about the prize is that it’ll be impossible to get a reservation at Kalaya. (Little does she know... it already is.)
Another chef at a tough table to get around here picked up a coveted Beard Award. Jesse Ito of Royal Sushi & Izakaya in Queen Village won Best Chef Mid-Atlantic.
Suntaranon won the same award in 2023.
Ito told the crowd at the ceremony in Chicago Monday night that he got his start as a dishwasher in his parents’ BYO in South Jersey and never dreamed he’d be standing on stage at the most prestigious awards in the culinary industry.
(Photo credit: Getty Images)
Jun 16, 2026
