THE JAMES BEARD FOUNDATION'S TASTE AMERICA® Seattle WALK-AROUND TASTING - Meet this week’s Chefs in Focus
THE JAMES BEARD FOUNDATION'S TASTE AMERICA® PRESENTED BY AMERICAN EXPRESS AND RESY ANNOUNCES Seattle WALK-AROUND TASTING NOV. 1 AT FOUR SEASONS HOTEL SEATTLE
James Beard Taste America Seattle, Nov. 1 at Four Seasons Hotel, features 45 tasting experiences showcasing some of Puget Sound’s most exciting chefs and libations – meet this week’s Chefs in Focus
For tickets, menus and participating talent, visit jamesbeard.org/tasteamerica.
The James Beard Foundation® (JBF), the organization behind the prestigious James Beard Awards®, announces that its Taste America culinary series returns to Seattle with a walk-around tasting on November 1 at 5:30 p.m. at Four Seasons Hotel Seattle. Presented by American Express and Resy, Taste America celebrates the chefs and local independent restaurants at the heart of our communities and culture – featuring one-of-a-kind evenings of exceptional food and drink in 20 U.S. cities from coast to coast.
The Seattle tasting will be hosted by TasteTwenty chef Jhonny Reyes of Lenox selected for the Foundation's 2026-2027 TasteTwenty class – an annual "ones to watch" list recognizing talent whose exceptional cooking, creative vision, and leadership are helping shape the future of American dining. Joining chef Reyes will be an impressive lineup of the talent behind Seattle's most exciting independent restaurants, with 45 food and beverage stations featuring signature bites, beverages, and exclusive sponsor activations.
Here's this week’s Chef’s in Focus feature for Seattle Means Business.
Pam Jacob, Pam’s Kitchen
Founded in 2006, this family-owned Caribbean restaurant shares Trinidadian cooking shaped by years of catering, community support, and a journey from a small snack shack to Seattle.
The story of Pam’s Kitchen begins over 20 years ago in Trinidad, where Pam Jacob ran a small spot called Pam’s Snack Shack. Cooking was part of daily life, and the dream of opening a full restaurant slowly took shape. Pam carried those early lessons with her when she moved to Seattle, holding onto the goal of sharing the food and spirit she grew up with. That dream stayed close, even while starting fresh in a new place.
In 2006, Pam opened her first kitchen in the University District, introducing many guests to Trinidadian food for the first time. The space became cozy and lively, shaped
by family and community. A second location followed in 2013, and in 2015 the original kitchen moved to Wallingford.
Preeti Agarwal, Canteen by Meesha and Kricket Club
Born and raised in Uttar Pradesh, India, Chef Preeti Agarwal is on a dedicated mission to elevate the perception of Indian cuisine in the Pacific Northwest.
Her culinary journey in Seattle began in 2018 with her highly acclaimed pop-up series, Meesha, where she quickly built a passionate following by marrying modern Indian flavors with fresh, seasonal, and locally sourced ingredients. She highlights traditional heritage dishes enlivened by family spices passed down through generations. This vision found a permanent home in Fremont with Meesha 127, which she recently transitioned into Canteen by Meesha.
Continuing her quest to showcase the depth of Indian gastronomy, Preeti opened her second restaurant, Kricket Club, in October 2022. Kricket Club offers a sophisticated, glamorous dining experience featuring inventive, elevated dishes in an elegant setting.
Chef Tina Fahnbulleh, Gold Coast Kitchen
Cooking will always be home for rising star Tina Fahnbulleh. “My grandmothers taught me by putting me to work in their kitchens until the motions became muscle memory. By the time I was four, they trusted me with cooking the rice, the highest honor in a West African household,” she said. “Food wasn’t just something we ate – it was how we survived and found joy.”
Growing up between Liberia and Ghana, after the civil war forced her family to leave the life they knew, it brought on a love for food and connection. In Ghana, her home was a safe haven for friends and relatives during the war. Every meal felt like a reunion, a reminder that food can hold people together when the world doesn’t.
After stints in in Philadelphia and Minnesota, she moved to Seattle in 2016, where hosted dinner parties to share her dishes. Those dinners grew into larger gatherings. And from those tables, Gold Coast Kitchen was born.
Today, she shares the joy and warmth that shaped her. Everything on the menu is rooted in memory, in migration, and in the belief that food can create belonging, even oceans away from home.
Thái Nguyên and Trinh Nguyên, Ramie
Born in Vietnam, Trinh and her family spent seven years in a refugee camp in Thailand, where Thai was born, before landing in Seattle in 1998. The Nguyen children grew up in and around Pho T&N, the restaurant their parents founded in 2005 in Poulsbo, Wash.
Trinh spent much of her youth cooking alongside her mom and immersing herself in Vietnamese culture. In the fall of 2023, she spent three months at an intensive French pastry program in Paris.
A graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education in New York, Thái honed his skills at the two-Michelin-starred Restaurant Daniel in NYC. In September of 2019, the sibling chefs opened Ba Sa on Bainbridge Island. The modern Vietnamese restaurant has become a destination for both locals and visitors.
A dream realized, the duo opened Ramie in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood in May of 2024. Seattle Met named Ramie one of “Seattle’s Best New Restaurants of 2024 and The Seattle Times declared: “Ramie is making some of the Northwest’s most ambitious Vietnamese food.”
In 2026, Trinh and Thái were honored to be named a Best Chef Northwest and Pacific semifinalist for a James Beard Award.
