Kansas City’s Anjin nominated
Anjin, the restaurant near 17th Street and Oak by the old Kansas City Star building, is a James Beard Award finalist for Best New Restaurant. (kcur.org) The nomination is being presented locally as a chance to push Kansas City diners toward more ‘adventurous’ tastes, according to the profile coverage. (kcur.org)
Anjin, a small Japanese-style restaurant in Kansas City’s Crossroads, is one of 10 finalists for the 2026 James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant. (jamesbeard.org) The James Beard Foundation announced its restaurant and chef finalists on March 31, and winners are scheduled to be named on June 15 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. (jamesbeard.org, abcnews.com) Anjin opened in July 2025 at 1708 Oak Street, near 17th Street and the former Kansas City Star building, and KCUR reported it is Kansas City’s only restaurant finalist this year. (kcur.org, anjinkc.com) Chef-owner Nick Goellner and sommelier Leslie Newsam Goellner built the restaurant around the model of a Japanese izakaya, a casual drinking place that serves small plates, skewers and seasonal dishes. (kcur.org, anjinkc.com, exploretock.com) That matters in Kansas City because the city’s national food reputation has long centered on barbecue and steakhouses, while Anjin’s menu leans on yakitori, udon, shochu and sake. (kcur.org, exploretock.com) In KCUR’s April 11 profile, Goellner said he wants to make diners more “adventurous,” and he described the restaurant as a place where guests can try unfamiliar dishes in a small, guided setting. (kcur.org) The nomination also puts Kansas City back in a national awards conversation after a thinner recent run: local reporting said Anjin is the first Kansas City-area restaurant in two years to reach finalist status. (msn.com, kcur.org) The room itself is small — Kansas City magazine described it as a 20-seat dining room — which helps explain why the restaurant’s national recognition has drawn outsized local attention. (kansascitymag.com) For now, the award run gives Kansas City diners a few more weeks to decide whether a Crossroads izakaya belongs in the city’s regular rotation, not just its special-occasion headlines. (kcur.org, jamesbeard.org)
