Anjin named Beard finalist
Kansas City restaurant Anjin is a James Beard Award finalist for Best New Restaurant and sits near 17th Street and Oak by the old Kansas City Star building. The restaurant’s team has publicly said they want to push Kansas City diners toward more “adventurous” eating as part of the nomination story. (kcur.org)
Anjin, a 20-seat Japanese-style pub in Kansas City’s Crossroads, is a finalist for the 2026 James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant. (kcur.org) The restaurant opened in July 2025 at 1708 Oak St., near 17th Street and the former Kansas City Star building. Chef Nick Goellner and sommelier Leslie Newsam Goellner own it. (kcur.org) (anjinkc.com) Anjin takes its model from Japanese izakayas, casual drinking establishments where small plates are served with beer, sake and shochu. Its menu includes rotating yakitori, daily specials and dishes such as a fried sakura pork collar sandwich on house-made shokupan milk bread. (kcur.org) (anjinkc.com) The James Beard Awards are among the highest-profile honors in American restaurants, and the 2026 winners will be announced June 15 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. The foundation named semifinalists on January 21 and finalists on March 31. (jamesbeard.org) (abcnews.com) For Kansas City, the nomination puts a very small, highly specific restaurant into a national category that usually drives reservations and attention. KCUR reported Anjin was the city’s lone finalist this year. (kcur.org) Goellner said the restaurant was built to show Kansas City diners parts of Japanese cooking beyond sushi and ramen. Newsam Goellner said they wanted a style of restaurant that would push local palates toward unfamiliar dishes and flavors. (kcur.org) That ambition also shapes the room itself: about 20 seats, most of them at a bar facing the kitchen, with reservations often easiest to find around 5:30 p.m. or after 9 p.m. KCUR reported the restaurant’s soft-serve dessert changes flavors frequently and has become one of its most sought-after items. (kcur.org) Anjin now has about two months between finalist status and the June 15 ceremony in Chicago. Until then, the national nod has already done one thing the owners said they wanted: it has put a tightly focused Kansas City restaurant in front of a much bigger audience. (abcnews.com) (kcur.org)
