James Beard nod for Anjin
Kansas City’s Anjin was named a James Beard Award finalist in the Best New Restaurant category and is using that recognition to push for more adventurous local diners. (kcur.org). The local coverage highlights how national finalist status is becoming part of the restaurant’s identity and marketing. (kcur.org).
Anjin, a 20-seat Japanese-style pub in Kansas City, is now one of 10 finalists for the 2026 James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant. (jamesbeard.org) The James Beard Foundation announced this year’s restaurant and chef nominees on March 31, and the Best New Restaurant winner will be named June 15 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. (jamesbeard.org) Anjin opened in July 2025 at 1708 Oak St. in Kansas City’s Crossroads district. Chef-owner Nick Goellner and sommelier Leslie Newsam Goellner built it around the Japanese izakaya model: small plates, skewers, drinks, and a tight room meant for lingering. (kcur.org, anjinkc.com) The finalist spot gives Kansas City a national entry in a category that rewards restaurants still in their first years of operation. James Beard calls its Restaurant and Chef Awards a recognition of excellence in food, drink, and hospitality. (jamesbeard.org, jamesbeard.org) At Anjin, the nomination is also becoming part of the pitch to local diners. On KCUR’s “Up To Date” on April 11, Goellner and Newsam Goellner said they opened the restaurant to introduce Midwest customers to parts of Japanese cuisine they may not already know. (kcur.org) That shows up on the menu. Anjin says it serves rotating yakitori, seasonal specials, shochu, sake, and Japanese beer, rather than a broader pan-Asian lineup or a sushi-heavy format more familiar to many American diners. (anjinkc.com) The room is small by design. Local coverage has described Anjin as a 20-seat restaurant, a scale that turns the finalist label into a bigger business tool because each reservation carries more weight in a limited-capacity dining room. (axios.com, kansascitymag.com) Anjin first appeared on the James Beard radar in January, when it made the 2026 semifinalist list with 30 restaurants in Best New Restaurant. It advanced to the final 10 on March 31. (jamesbeard.org, jamesbeard.org) For now, the restaurant is still selling the same thing it opened with in July: a compact izakaya built around grilled skewers, drinks, and dishes Kansas City diners may not order every day. The James Beard finalist badge gives that bet a national stamp before the June 15 awards. (kcur.org, jamesbeard.org)
