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Michigan was triumphant on Monday evening at the James Beard Awards as metro Detroit’s own Hajime Sato of sushi restaurant Sozai in Clawson brought home the regional medal for Best Chef: Great Lakes.
Sato broke through in a category that for many years has been dominated by Chicago’s mighty restaurant scene. He joins a growing cohort of medal holders that have represented the Detroit area’s resurgent dining scene at the awards including Warda Bouguettaya of Warda Patisserie and Detroit Free Press critic Lyndsay Green, and Coldwater Kitchen filmmakers Mark Kurlyandchik, Brian Kaufman, and Kathy Kieliszewski.
Born and raised in Tokyo, Sato spent many years in Seattle where he established Mashiko, a long-running, ahead-of-its-time sustainable sushi restaurant. In 2019, Sato and his wife Elizabeth officially relocated to metro Detroit where she was receiving cancer treatment. Sozai was established in 2021 amidst the challenges of the pandemic and received an Eater Award that same year for Best New Suburban Restaurant.
In his speech, Sato acknowledged how previous recognition from the James Beard Awards committee had helped give him a platform to promote his sustainable approach to seafood. “I’ve been doing ocean conservation and sustainable sushi for 15 years and oceans are not good, [and] as you know, Earth is not in good shape and small restaurants like me cannot really do that much,” he said. “Now everybody here nominations, winners — now you have a voice.” He added, “We have work to do.”
Detroiters Mamba Hamissi and Nadia Nijimbere of Baobab Fare and Waka were nominated in the Outstanding Restaurateur category, though they were ultimately edged out by Erika Whitaker and Kelly Whitaker of Id Est Hospitality Group in Boulder, Colorado. Green, who won a media award last year in the Emerging Voice category, also missed out on the ultimate prize in her Jonathan Gold Local Voice Award; at a ceremony over the weekend, the medal went to Atlanta Magazine’s Mike Jordan.
Among the complete list of 2024 chef and restaurant winners, Best New Restaurant in the nation went to Dakar NOLA, while Langbaan in Portland, Oregon, took home the prize for Outstanding Restaurant.
Grab a reservation at Sozai on the site before they (likely) disappear.
Watch the 2024 James Beard Awards Restaurant and Chef Awards ceremony here:
Disclosure: Some Vox Media staff members are part of the voting body for the James Beard Awards. Eater is partnering with the James Beard Foundation to livestream the awards in 2024. All editorial content is produced independently of the James Beard Foundation.
