Even though she didn’t think that she was going to win, Penelope Wong still had her hopes up. This was the third summer she’d kicked off in Chicago, and the fourth year she had received a nod from the James Beard Foundation. She and her entire back-of-house staff were at the Lyric Opera, surrounded wall to wall by the who’s who of American dining. Other chefs from Colorado were seated nearby, some conspicuously closer to the stage than she was.
Wong was in good company. Barolo Grill’s Ryan Fletter was there, as was Josh Niernberg from Bin 707 Foodbar in Grand Junction. McClain Hedges and Mary Allison Wright were in the building, hoping to take home the title for Outstanding Professional In Cocktail Service. Only five local finalist nominations had emerged from an enormously talented group of semifinalists that included the likes of Heretik’s Theo Adley, Molotov’s Bo Porytko and MAKfam’s Kenneth Wan. Of the 25 categories represented, the honorees now fell into only three, including Best Chef Mountain Region, which spans Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming.
It wasn’t until after she had walked off the stage, after she had shouted “holy shit, I beat Johnny Curiel,” and after she had returned to Colorado early the following morning to immediately begin prepping for the coming week, that Wong took a moment to consider the significance of the fact that she had just won a James Beard Award. “I never even expected to be nominated,” she said.
This was back in June, and now Wong says things have changed at Yuan Wonton, the food truck-turned-restaurant at the center of this latest spotlight. “Since the award, reservations have been booked out for 60 days. For lunch,” she grinned. While there’s never been a dull moment for Yuan since it opened in 2019, Wong says that the world’s latest obsession with the house chili wontons still feels surprising. “Before the award, it was definitely manageable. We were busy enough,” she said.
In the face of accolades, Wong seems nonchalant. But that also may be because her decidedly boots-on-the-ground approach leaves little room for the kind of hobnobbing so often seen around the big leagues. “I always expo. I always sauce and garnish and sell every single plate,” she said. “I don’t know anything else.”
She joins Rootstalk’s Matt Vawter and annette’s Caroline Glover as winners of the award for Best Chef Mountain Region. Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson, Jennifer Jasinski and Alex Seidel also have chef awards from when Colorado was still considered part of the Southwest.
The scale of Yuan is surely a big reason for its success. Even with just four lunch services and two happy hours per week, Wong and her team have managed to become local and national favorites. In 2024, Yuan was named by the New York Times on its list of America’s Best Restaurants. Running the place is a massive personal undertaking, but one to which Wong is committed every step of the way. “I just have to cook. It’s my comfort. It’s my love language,” she said, going so far as to say that her restaurant is a selfish project.
“This is a great personal accomplishment I never knew I wanted or needed,” said Wong, who grew up working in her parents’ Chinese restaurant that proudly stood on North Washington Avenue for nearly a quarter of a century. “Much like how my family never cooked for recognition, I never set out on this journey to get on any lists. I started out on this journey to cook for pure love of the game.”
That love is still evident. Even with more hype and longer wait times, what hasn’t changed at Yuan Wonton is the food. The chili wontons are still the cornerstone. The sauce, which Wong developed while still working at the Glenmoor Country Club, is one of those rare universal hits, rooted enough in tradition to elate purists, and forward-thinking enough to be entirely its own thing. The eggplant dumplings are still a staple, as are the potstickers. Sous Chef Ngocanh Nguyen does a killer banh mi on Tuesdays. From there, the menu is largely whimsical and gives Wong a chance to explore flavors she grew up eating in a Chinese and Thai household. “We’re doing these dishes that we want to eat,” she said. “I had the most delicious childhood ever.”
Wong says that she’s proud to bring home a James Beard Award, not just for personal glory, but as a representative of Colorado. “As a Denver native, growing up seeing the dining scene change so radically and evolve what it is today, it’s an incredible feeling to be a part of the change. To represent Colorado with this win is a nod to the ever-growing diversity in culture and dining that we have been lucky to experience here,” she said, adding that formative moments in her culinary journey weren’t always positive. “It’s a beautiful moment for me because growing up as an Asian American, when Denver was still considered a ‘cowtown,’ there was a lot of negativity surrounding diversity that I endured during my childhood. So to be celebrated as the first Asian woman to represent Colorado on the James Beard platform is truly special.”
No matter how many accolades Yuan Wonton gets, Wong says there’s plenty that’s never going to change. There are no plans to add additional services, and not a chance of more restaurants.
“Without knowing it, and without setting out to do so, I have honored both my parents and my grandparents with this recognition because my cooking stems from the traditions and flavors they’ve passed down to me,” said Wong, adding that she couldn’t have done any of this without her team.
Yuan Wonton is still great and probably better than ever. But one thing is clear. Wong and her team are simply doing what they’ve always done. With or without awards, they’d still be heads down, hammering out thousands of world-class wontons a week.
That’s what made them winners in the first place.
Yuan Wonton is located at 2878 Fairfax Street, Denver. It is open for lunch Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m., with happy hour on Thursday and Friday from 4 – 6 p.m.
Reservations can be made at OpenTable.
Photos courtesy of Adrienne Thomas.
