CHEFS TIM FLORES AND GENIE KWON FROM KASAMA, “NEW TALENTS OF THE YEAR” BY LA LISTE
Paris, November 25th 2024. Tonight, during the La Liste annual gala ceremony held in Paris, chefs Tim and Genie from restaurant Kasama in Chicago were granted one of the Special Awards for La Liste 2025. Recognised as the “most promising chefs of the year”, they have received the New Talents of the Year Award.
La Liste is an independent restaurant ranking founded on the principle that several opinions are better than one. It operates through a rigorous methodology, based on a sophisticated algorithm analyzing more than 1100 sources, including guidebooks, newspapers, magazines, customer feedback, and blogs. This approach enables us to establish a 100-point rating, integrating evaluations from gastronomic guides, the press, and customer reviews. The system also takes into account establishments’ environmental and social commitments, ensuring a comprehensive and contemporary assessment.
As a result, it yearly unveils the 1000 highest ranked restaurants in the world, classified according to their total score which can go up to a maximum of 100 points.
In parallel, Special Awards are given out to offer a complementary perspective to its algorithmic ranking, revealing another facet of the world’s gastronomic excellence. This editorial selection highlights emerging talents, culinary innovators, and artisans of excellence who contribute to enriching the gastronomic landscape. A total of 12 Special Awards we granted today, ranging from the Discovery Gem Award to the Artisan and Authenticity Award, Ethical and Sustainability Award, Game Changer Award, New Pastry Talent Award, or the New Talents Award, among others.
After the gala ceremony in which awards have been given out, and the highlights of La Liste Top 1000 World’s Best Restaurants were announced a cocktail party and gala dinner were held, gathering the international chef community.
About Kasama
Kasama is a bakery and modern Filipino restaurant from chefs Genie Kwon and Timothy Flores located in the East Ukrainian Village neighborhood of Chicago. It first opened its doors in 2020 as an all-day establishment where Flores hoped to reveal a new side of the Filipino food of his childhood, while the morning rush would allow Kwon to show off her pastry prowess.
For Filipinos, food is a symbol of togetherness; a gathering of sorts. Kasama in Tagalog – main language in the Philippines – translates to “together” in English, and it is this ethos of coming together that the world’s first Michelin-Starred Filipino restaurant stands by.
Since opening in 2020, Kasama earned a Michelin star making it the first Filipino restaurant in the world to be awarded the accolade. Kasama earned 4 stars in the Chicago Tribune and was included in Esquire Magazine’s Best Restaurants in America. Genie and Tim were included in the 2022 class of Food and Wine Best New Chefs. In 2022 Kasama was a James Beard finalist for Best New Restaurant and in 2023 they won the James Beard Best Chef: Great Lakes award. In addition, they have just been featured in Robb Report’s selection of The 50 Most Powerful People in American Fine Dining.
About Tim Flores and Genie Kwon
Tim Flores grew up on the outskirts of Chicago with his parents, who emigrated from the Philippines in 1975. His first experience in professional kitchens was washing dishes at GT Fish & Oyster during his university years. After graduating, Flores returned to Chicago and made his way into GT’s kitchen, where he met his future wife and business partner, Genie Kwon, head of the restaurant’s pastry shop.
Kwon, born in New Orleans, graduated from the culinary management program at Newbury College in Massachusetts, and trained in the kitchens of Flour Bakery & Café, Nobu 57 and Eleven Madison Park.
In 2014, Flores began working as a chef de partie in Senza, while Kwon served as the pastry chef at BOKA, which earned her the Jean Banchet Rising Pastry Chef of the Year award. In 2016 their paths met again to collaborate in the opening of Oriole, fine-dining restaurant that won 2 Michelin stars in its first year.
In 2018, Flores and Kwon stopped to give life to their own project. After two and a half years, they built that space in the Ukrainian Village of Chicago and called it Kasama. Today, Kasama is a reflection of Genie and Tim’s culinary backgrounds as a bakery and restaurant serving modern Filipino food inspired by the chef’s home country recipes.
About La Liste
Often referred to as «the ranking of rankings», LA LISTE is an independent restaurant ranking founded in 2015, but it’s also much more:
- Ranking methodology: convinced that several opinions are better than one, LA LISTE aims to condense the opinions of fine dining guides, respected restaurant critics, bloggers, and review sites that publish consumer opinion. The methodology is based on an algorithm integrating and weighting nearly 1,100 international sources. Depending on the country, these sources may be ratings and rankings from well-known restaurant guides, but also opinions from the international, national, and regional press, as well as customer ratings.
- Mobile app: The LA LISTE app form includes around 35,000 restaurants but also 3,000 pastry shops and 6,000 hotels mapped across more than 200 countries, available in 9 languages. LA LISTE is also “embedded” in 4.7 million Hyundai group cars.
- Culinary events: LA LISTE organizes culinary events of international scope to reveal winners and rankings but above all to bring together the international community of chefs and celebrate the diversity of cuisines from around the world.
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