Portlands Langbaan wins big at the 2024 James Beard Awards

America's Most Notable Restaurant is located at another restaurant in Northwest Portland. Its name is appropriate Long trackwhich means back of the house in Thai, and serves a five-course tasting menu of refined Thai dishes with ingredients from the Pacific Northwest.

It is one of the six restaurants of the culinary mastermind Akkapong Count Ninsom, and this week, Langbaan won the coveted and competitive Outstanding Restaurant category at the 2024 James Beard Awards.

Chef Ninsom joined OPB All Things Considered host Crystal Ligori to discuss the concept behind Langbaan, Thai cuisine in the Pacific Northwest, and what the distinction means to her team.

The following transcript has been edited for clarity and length.

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Ligori Crystal: Each of your restaurants has a distinct style and cuisine. You can't just say it's just Thai food. For someone who has never eaten at Langbaan, how would you describe it?

Count Ninsom: So Langbaan is a restaurant that transports you to a specific area or region of Thailand that is underrepresented in the United States. So we research their lifestyle, the ingredients they use and the type of food they eat, and then we add that to our five-course menu.

When I was in Thailand and had dined at restaurants serving similar types of food, sometimes what I notice is that if I don't know what or how to order, I wouldn't be able to order good way, I couldn't enjoy it as much. as we were supposed to enjoy it. So what we're doing is sort of eliminating that problem. All of the menu items we offer are meant to be eaten together. [if] one has flavors like sour spicy, the other can be sweet and salty. It will be a combined experience where you will truly enjoy the meal with the family.

Ligori: I love the idea of ​​eliminating uncertainty [for your customers], especially since many Americanized palettes only know one version of Thai food. They think of something very simple like Pad Thai.

Ninsom: When I moved to Oregon, the Thai food scene in 2000 was trying to Americanize Thai food. At first I was fine with it, because I had never eaten this kind of food. But after a while, our food culture is so rich and diverse and it feels like there are other things that we enjoyed growing up that don't exist here. Why not offer it to [people who] I don't have the chance to experience it in our country. Our team is made up of people who really love cooking and it's also what they do very well. And this menu that we have has helped them stay creative because the menu changes every two months.

Related: Portland restaurant and chef each win coveted James Beard Awards

Ligori: Langbaan is at the high end of restaurants, it's expensive but you also have other restaurants whose prices are more affordable. What do you think about the different types of restaurants you want to open and who are they for?

Ninsom: Because not everyone can afford Langbaan, that's why we also open other more affordable establishments. [options] to the people here in Portland. Some of them are less creative, more realistic to what we grew up in the country, like Hat Yai or Yaowarat or even Paadee. It's comfort food or southern type food or Thai-Chinese food. And then a few of them, Eem and Phuket Cafe are more creative, feed more off the energy of all these foodies coming to Portland. And we all bring different perspectives and we think all of these people combined will create something special and something that only Portland would have. This does not exist in Thailand.

Ligori: This week, your team won Outstanding Restaurant at the James Beard Awards. It’s a reward that goes beyond who comes up with the most delicious food. It also examines how the restaurant has contributed positively to its broader community. Can you tell us about what it means to you for Langbaan to be recognized in this way?

Ninsom: First of all, it shows that a restaurant is not one person's idea. It doesn't work with one person, it's a sum of parts. Everyone has the same mindset, the same understanding: be kind to each other. We take care of each other, then we take care of our guests, then we take care of our communities.

It brings us joy when we bring joy to others. And ultimately, once you're successful, you want to make sure that your communities that support you also benefit from what we do. For example, earlier this year when we had a snowstorm, we decided: Why not just cook all that food that's going to waste and give it to everyone who needs it? And since they've all supported us for many years, it's our job to make sure they're taken care of in as many ways as possible. We are therefore proud, [we] feeling joy and the work we do means something.