Chef Park Junghyun, who runs the Korean restaurant Atomix in the Manhattan borough of New York, is among this year's winners of the James Beard Awards, the highest culinary honors in the U.S. dubbed "the Oscars of food." Shown is an Instagram post announcing Park's award. (Screen capture from Atomix's Instagram account)

By Yoon Sojung

An ethnic Korean chef in New York is one of this year's winners of the James Beard Awards, which are dubbed the "Oscars of American food."

The New York Times on June 5 in its article "The Full List of the 2023 James Beard Chef and Restaurant Award Winners" named chef Park Junghyun (Junghyun Park), who runs the high-end Korean restaurant Atomix in the Big Apple's borough of Manhattan, as the best chef in the state of New York.

The James Beard Foundation on June 5 announced this year's honorees and held the awards  ceremony the same day in Chicago.

James Beard (1903-85), a chef and cookbook author known as "the father of American cooking," greatly contributed to the development and globalization of U.S. culinary culture. 

The foundation bearing his name is a nonprofit organization that supports and searches for exemplary cases of the advancement of American food and dining culture. Every year, it selects award winners from about 20,000 restaurants and their chefs across the country like Outstanding Chef, Best Chef and Best New Restaurant.

Born and raised in Seoul, Park with his wife Park Jeungeun, aka Ellia and fellow alumnus of her husband's alma mater Kyung Hee University, opened their first restaurant Atoboy featuring fusion Hansik in 2016 in Manhattan. Two years later, they opened the high-end Atomix, their second in the Big Apple. 

In its first year, Atomix was named one of The Times' Best New Restaurants and won two Michelin stars in 2020. Last year, it was ranked No. 1 in the U.S. and 33rd globally on the daily's list of the World's 50 Best Restaurants, and in April this year, Atomix was second among The Times' 100 Best Restaurants in New York.

The Parks opened their third restaurant Naro in October last year at Rockefeller Center and the Korean-style bar Seoul Salon in February this year in Manhattan's Koreatown.

Ethnic Korean chef Park Junghyun is among this year's winners of the James Beard Awards. Shown is The New York Times article dated June 5 featuring a photo of Park (left) and his wife Jeung-eun. (Screen capture from Times' website)

arete@korea.kr