Chef Valerie Chang of Maty's Wins "Best Chef: South" James Beard Award

Chef Valerie Chang has just won a James Beard Award in the "Best Chef: South" category, for her work at her Peruvian restaurant, Maty's, in Midtown. Chang's menu at Maty's is a modern take on comida criolla, the traditional Peruvian food of her upbringing in Chiclayo, Peru.

This is Chang's first James Beard win; she garnered two James Beard semifinalist nominations for Rising Star Chef (2019, 2020) and nominations for "Best Chef: South" (2022, 2023). The region includes Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Puerto Rico.

Chang delivered the news to her staff by phone from Chicago on the evening of Monday, June 10, as the annual James Beard Awards gala livestreamed online. News quickly spread through the restaurant — coincidentally, members and staff of the Raptive online ad network who were in town for a conference bought out the evening for a private party — and the dining room erupted in cheers.

In April, the James Beard Foundation announced the finalists for 2024's Restaurant and Chef Awards, among the most prestigious culinary honors in the nation. This list was narrowed down from a list of semifinalists released in January.
The Midtown restaurant, which has won numerous accolades since opening in 2023, was also ranked number 15 on Food & Wine's 2024 list of 20 "Global Tastemakers Best Restaurants in the U.S." The Peruvian restaurant was ranked number 15 out of 20 restaurants.

In 2023, Chang was selected as one of Food & Wine's "Best New Chefs of 2023." Days later, Bon Appétit named her then-six-month-old restaurant one of the best new restaurants in the nation, earning it the added honor of being the only Florida restaurant to make the list.

Months later, it made the New York Times' newly minted "Restaurant List."

In 2018, she, her brother Nando Chang, and their father opened the since-shuttered Itamae in the Miami Design District, a Nikkei restaurant serving Peruvian-Japanese cuisine with local and seasonal ingredients. Under Nando’s leadership, Itamae received a Michelin Bib Gourmand and was added to the New York Times’ 2021 "Restaurant List." Nando recently opened a new iteration of the award-winning restaurant, rechristened Itamae AO, right next to his sister's restaurant, Maty's, in Midtown.
Val Chang's memories of eating delicious dishes prepared by her paternal grandmother, Marta, inspired an appreciation for the homemade, Peruvian recipes that take center stage at Maty's. Her grandmother is also the inspiration behind the restaurant's name. Thus, Maty's is an intimate glimpse into her childhood and upbringing.

"Nando and I really wanted a place where we can both express ourselves creatively, and this is my take on my grandma Marta's cooking, but also my maternal grandmother and the other two women who helped shape me into the chef I am today," Chang told New Times in March of 2023 ahead of the opening. "Even the menu will be written in my grandmother's handwriting. It's all about keeping that tradition alive."

Maty's. 3255 NE First Ave., Miami; matysmiami.com.