Orlando restaurateurs Jimmy and Johnny Tung together with Orlando Chef Henry Moso have been nominated for prestigious James Beard Awards.
Today, January 25, the James Beard Foundation announced the 2023 Restaurant and Chef Awards semifinalists for the James Beard Awards, and well know local restaurateur Jimmy and Johnny Tung, the faces behind the successful Bento Asian Kitchen + Sushi, Doshi, and Camille, Orlando have been nominated in the prestigious Outstanding Restaurateur category.
Brothers Jimmy and Johnny Tung sought to venture beyond the old-school neighborhood restaurant, creating a menu of popular Asian eats from Japan, China, Taiwan and Korea.
After countless hours of recipe-tasting, and detail-perfecting right down to the lighting and playlist, the first Bento Asian Kitchen + Sushi opened up in Gainesville in the summer of 2002, today, there are over 20 locations and growing across the Sunshine State.
The Tung brotherss have went on to build an impressive empire, and this year alone, the Tungs will open an impressive four new concepts, Foreigner in Audubon Park, Camille and Sorekara in Baldwin Park, Bang Bang Noodle Co. in Mills 50, and Kosen in Tampa.
Plus, in the Best Chef: South (AL, AR, FL, LA, MS, PR) category, Henry Moso, well know, and popular Chef and Owner of Kabooki Sushi at Sand Lake and East Colonial, has earned himself a well deserved second James Beard Award nomination for Best Chef: South, and his third nomination overall.
Henry Moso’s talent has jumped past the borders of his native, landlocked Laos, with childhood travels across Southeast Asia informing his culinary trajectory.
Henry sharpened his skills, and knives, at his mothers restaurants in Bangkok Square and Origami Sushi upon arriving in Florida when he was only 15-years-old.
Opening Kabooki at 22 was a much-anticipated step in his already celebrated career.
Henry hopes to “expand similar and new concepts” in the Orlando area, but for now, the main stage is set at Kabooki, where his mission is to combine locally sourced, seasonal ingredients with the best cuts from Japan for a dining experience centered on quality control, excitement, and surprise.
Nominees will be announced on Wednesday, March 29, and winners will be celebrated at the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards Ceremony on Monday, June 5, 2023, at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Congratulations and good luck to all three of our local nominees.
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