A Caldwell chef received Idaho’s second James Beard Award on Monday. Chef Salvador Alamilla of Amano received the prestigious best chef regional award from the James Beard Foundation in Chicago.
Alamilla received the award for the Mountain region, which includes Idaho, Colorado, Utah, Montana and Wyoming. In his acceptance speech at the ceremony, Alamilla credited the women on his team for the honor.
“If you were to ask my mom, she would probably tell you that our interview with Telemundo the other day was is a bigger deal,” he said.
But Alamilla said he was saddened and had mixed feelings about receiving the prize.
“Because at the same time that my story, my immigrant story is being honored and awarded, immigrants are being deported. And those stories, we may never hear those stories,” he said.
The awards honoring America’s diverse culinary landscape come as the Trump administration ramps up brutal ICE raids across the country, with many in the migrant community fearing racial targeting.
“It's now more important than ever that our little restaurant, in one of the most ruby red states in this whole country, is in that corner, and that it is a beacon of hope for kids that look like me,” Alamilla said.
Amano, which means “by hand,” serves a mix of traditional Mexican cuisine from southern California, Oaxaca and Michoacan with a modern fine dining twist and roots in indigenous traditions.
Idaho was first recognized in 2023 when Boise’s restaurant KIN won the state’s first James Beard Foundation Restaurant and Chef Award Winners.
