Casual fine-dining Filipino restaurant, Kaya (Instagram | Website), was just named as a finalist for Best New Restaurant in this year’s James Beard Awards.
The honor is shared with 30 other restaurants across the country, with the winner being announced in June 10 at a celebration in Chicago. Other finalists include Dakar NOLA in New Orleans, Kisser in Nashville, and Barbs-B-Q in Lockhart, Texas.
Kaya opened in the former home of Dandelion Communitea Cafe at 618 N. Thornton Avenue [GMap] back in November 2022.
Kaya is the only Orlando restaurant to make the finals in any category. Kabooki Sushi’s Henry Moso and Mark and Jen Berdin of Kadence were all named semifinalists in Best Chef: South but didn’t make it to the last round.
