Philly took home one of the major James Beard Awards Monday night, thanks to a chef named after our city. Phila Lorn, owner of Mawn, the Cambodian Noodle house, won the award for Emerging Chef.
Phila opened Mawn as a mom-and-pop restaurant in 2023 with his wife, Rachel, who operates the front of the house.
“I got nominated for emerging chef, but … it’s a man’s-world type of thing that I get to go to the James Beard Awards,” Lorn told Billy Penn ahead of the awards. “She’s my business partner … I don’t think I could work without her.”
“We are like a dynamic duo,” he added. “She runs the floor with so much integrity.”
Mawn’s menu revolves around Asian and Cambodian flavors. The chef’s parents fled Cambodia seeking refuge in the United States, and the Lorns created the noodle house as a space for comfort and peace. The dishes are cozy and fun, with elements taken from Rachel’s Jewish background as well.
“What a dream,” Lorn said as he started his acceptance speech, giving the biggest thanks to Rachel. “I love you. Thank you to our parents. Definitely, our parents for knowing that all that bad sh*t was just a phase.”
The chef, who at times appeared overcome by the moment while accepting his award, took the occasion to speak to perceptions.
“I do want to dedicate this award also to assumptions — the assumption that Mawn was just another restaurant, it was too small, it wasn’t focused enough. The assumption that the food wasn’t going to be good enough or authentic enough. I wasn’t popular enough,” he said with some classic Philly underdog swagger. “Also, the assumption that this little Cambodian boy wasn’t going to come out where they put him.”
“When I found out I was nominated for this award, the assumption was, I was going to win it,” he said with a wry smile, which drew laughs from the crowd. Then he added his mic drop moment, “Philly—brrrap!”
Despite the cockiness, Lorn was quite humble when he spoke with Billy Penn last month. He learned about the nomination in the midst of potty training his 3-year-old son.
“Surprised was the initial feeling,” he said. “And then, you know, disbelief, imposter syndrome. It’s all the stuff that my therapist is like, you gotta work on.”
Lorn was the first chef to accept an award during the Beards event at the Lyric Opera House on Monday, and the only one of Philly’s four finalists to win. Chef Jesse Ito of Royal Sushi & Izakaya, who was up for his eighth nomination, and Amanda Schulman of Her Place Supper Club were in the running for Best Chef Mid-Atlantic, and Friday Saturday Sunday, which won Outstanding Restaurant in 2023, was a finalist for Outstanding Bar.
“To have that many people see [Phila’s] food and see what we do is pretty cool,” Rachel told Billy Penn last month. “We were never chasing this kind of thing. It was more like, we just want to make really good food. We want to make money and be able to live our life and do it for ourselves.”
Reserving a table at Mawn is already tough, but with the new news it’s bound to get tougher. Luckily, the couple is about to expand their culinary influence in the city. The Lorns are prepping to open their new restaurant, Sao, a Southeast Asian Oyster bar in Passyunk late next month.
To read more on Phila and Rachel Lorn and their recipe for success, you can check out Billy Penn’s profile on the couple here.
