Minneapolis Eatery Named 'Best New Restaurant' In America

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minneapolis eatery was named the "best new restaurant" at the prestigious James Beard Awards on Monday.

Owamni by The Sioux Chef is a modern, Indigenous full-service restaurant that opened in 2021. It's located inside the Water Works Pavilion in Minneapolis' Mill Ruins Park.

"We are a team of Anishinaabe, Mdewakanton Dakota, Navajo, Northern Cheyenne, Oglala Lakota, Wahpeton-Sisseton Dakota and are ever growing," the restaurant states on its website.

"We are committed to revitalizing Native American Cuisine and in the process we are re-identifying North American Cuisine and reclaiming an important culinary culture long buried and often inaccessible."

Owamni was founded by Sean Sherman, otherwise known as the Sioux Chef.

The James Beard awards are regarded as the Oscars of the culinary industry.

The industry remains in a recovery phase after lost business during the pandemic and “still needs support,” James Beard Foundation CEO Clare Reichenbach said at the ceremony, according to a news release.

The awards honor not only individual winners but also “our entire industry — and the incredible resilience, fortitude, talent, and leadership so many have shown over the past two years,” Reichenbach said.

The awards had been on a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic. During that time, the awards program “underwent a full audit of its policies and procedures, continuing the work to remove bias, increase transparency and accessibility, and make the program more aligned with the Foundation’s mission and values."