Here Are Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs of 2017

Food & Wine has announced its list of the Best New Chefs for 2017. This list, the first to be published under the magazine’s new editor-in-chief Nilou Motamed (Dana Cowin stepped down last year) and new restaurant editor Jordana Rothman, notably reflects more of the diversity of the dining landscape — gender, racial, and geographic — than previous years’ lists. The 12 honorees hail from eight different cities plus Orcas Island, Washington, and reflect a wide variety of ethnicities and origins. The gender breakdown of eight men and four women is a striking improvement over last year, when Iliana Regan (of Elizabeth and Bunny in Chicago) was the list’s only woman.

To qualify for Best New Chefs, honorees must have been in charge of a kitchen for fewer than five years. As with previous years, Food & Wine will feature this year’s winners in the July issue of the magazine, and include them in June’s Food & Wine Classic in Aspen.

Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs 2017

Yoshi Okai, Otoko, Austin
Val Cantu, Californios, San Francisco
Peter Cho, Han Oak, Portland
Sara Kramer and Sarah Hymanson, Kismet, Los Angeles
Noah Sandoval, Oriole, Chicago
Jordan Kahn, Destroyer, Los Angeles
Nina Compton, Compère Lapin, New Orleans
Diego Galicia and Rico Torres, Mixtli, San Antonio
Angie Mar, The Beatrice Inn, New York
Jay Blackington, Hogstone’s Wood Oven, Orcas Island, Washington

• Food & Wine Best New Chefs 2017 [Food & Wine]
• All Awards Coverage [E]