Where is America’s most ‘outstanding’ restaurant? Right here in Portland

Langbaan, one of the first restaurants to serve a Thai tasting menu in America, was named the country’s most outstanding restaurant at the James Beard Foundation Awards ceremony Monday in Chicago.

According to the foundation, the Outstanding Restaurant award goes to an establishment that “demonstrates consistent excellence in food, atmosphere, hospitality and operations, while contributing positively to its broader community.”

“This 24-seat restaurant, which channels sort of a Bangkok night market vibe, has been instrumental to introducing Portland to authentic addictive flavors of Thai cooking,” awards show commentators said. “Whether it’s the bright salads, mouth-numbing larb, complex curries…Langbaan is the most fun you can have in Portland on a night out.”

In unrehearsed remarks, Langbaan owner Akkapong Ninsom, who most people know as Earl, said he was honored just to have been nominated for a restaurant he started a decade ago in efforts to prove that “Thai food had much, much more than what Americans had seen.” The restaurant, which moved from its original Southeast Portland home to Northwest in 2021, changes its menu every two months to focus on a different region in Thailand.

“I’m truly hoping that this award doesn’t change who we are,” Ninsom told the crowd at the Lyric Opera building in Chicago, “to not stop innovating, not settle on just being mediocre, and continue to take care of our guests, and our communities.”

Ninsom, who co-owns other Portland Thai restaurants including PaaDee, Hat Yai, Eem, Phuket Cafe and Yaowarat, was previously a finalist in the Outstanding Restaurateur category in 2022. Eem, his restaurant with Eric Nelson and Matt Vicedomini that merges Thai flavors with Texas-style smoked meats, was a finalist for the foundation’s prestigious Best New Restaurant honor in 2019.

Langbaan (1818 N.W. 23rd Place) was previously honored as part of The Oregonian’s Restaurant of the Year package in 2014. The restaurant is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year with a series of collaborations with well-known chefs.

Earlier in the evening, Portland chef Gregory Gourdet won the 2024 James Beard Award for best chef in the foundation’s “Northwest and Pacific” region, which includes Hawaii, Alaska, Oregon and Washington. It was the Kann chef’s third consecutive year accepting a medal from the foundation.

Ninsom also divulged to the audience that his wife, Thanissara “Golf” Poomlaochaeng, had been diagnosed with cancer, calling 2024 an “especially difficult” year.

“To not be able to be at the restaurant,” he said, glancing at staff gathered on the stage, “and for them to keep the restaurant up and running, to continue to produce what they have been producing for the past 10 years, is something that I never dreamed of.”

Taking the mic after Ninsom, Langbaan general manager Heaven-Leigh Carey led the audience in a belated “happy birthday” message to chef Kitsanaruk “Pui” Ketkuaviriyanont, who was also present, then thanked “that psychic who approached me two months ago on the street and told me we were winning.”

— Michael Russell; mrussell@oregonian.com

Our journalism needs your support. Please become a subscriber today at OregonLive.com/subscribe