Owamni

Last updated

Owamni by the Sioux Chef
Owamni logo.jpeg
2024-0414-Owamni.jpg
Owamni
Restaurant information
EstablishedJuly 19, 2021 (2021-07-19)
Owner(s)North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems (NATIFS)
Chef Sean Sherman
Food typeNative American
Street address420 South 1st Street
City Minneapolis
State Minnesota
Postal/ZIP Code55401
CountryUnited States
Coordinates 44°58′52″N93°15′37″W / 44.98111°N 93.26028°W / 44.98111; -93.26028
Website owamni.com

Owamni by the Sioux Chef, or simply Owamni, is a Native American restaurant in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, that overlooks the Mississippi River. Owamni's majority Native American staff serves a menu made from indigenous ingredients such as game meats, corn, and wild plants. [1] The restaurant does not serve ingredients that were introduced to the region by Europeans, including butter, dairy, sugar, black pepper, wheat, chicken, beef, and pork. [2]

Contents

As of 2023 the restaurant is run as a not-for-profit. [3]

Description and history

Owamni opened on July 19, 2021. It is located in Mill Ruins Park, near Saint Anthony Falls. The name Owamni derives from the Dakota name Owámniyomni for St. Anthony Falls, which roughly translates to "place of the falling, swirling water". [4] The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board and Parks Foundation raised money to honor the indigenous heritage of the falls. They cooperated with architects Hammel, Green, and Abrahamson to build the restaurant Owamni on the second floor of the nineteenth century Columbia flour mill. [5] [6] A red neon sign inside the restaurant says, "You Are on Native Land". [7]

The restaurant was originally co-owned by Dana Thompson and Sean Sherman, a member of the Oglala Lakota Sioux tribe who is also the head chef. [8] [9] Nearly two-thirds of the 70 staff members are Native American, representing several tribes: Anishinaabe, Mdewakanton and Wahpeton-Sisseton Dakota, Navajo, Northern Cheyenne, and Oglala Lakota. [9] In 2023 the nonprofit North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems (NATIFS) acquired the restaurant to be run as a not-for-profit. [3]

Some of the dishes served include amaranth tostadas with dip made from tepary beans and smoked trout, a crispy cricket seed mix with chili and maple, and bison tartare garnished with wasna and curled crackers made of wild rice and corn's ancestor, teosinte. [10] Also served are sandwiches—arepas heaped with ground elk, sweet potatoes, and pepitas, [11] or, turkey, [12] or, the three sisters: black bean pureé, pickled squash, and corn. [13] Wojabe, a foraged berry sauce traditionally made with chokeberries, tops both sweet desserts and savory dishes. [14] [11]

The restaurant "breaks its decolonized rule with beverages" by serving coffee, [7] indigenous wine, [4] and alcohol-free cocktails. [4] Beer comes from breweries owned by women and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) individuals. [4]

Reception

On opening, recognition came from local, national, and international reviewers. [15] Less than one year after opening, [5] Owamni won the James Beard Foundation Award for best new restaurant in 2022. [16] [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taiwanese cuisine</span> Culinary traditions of Taiwan

Taiwanese cuisine is a popular style of food with several variations, including Chinese and that of Taiwanese indigenous peoples, with the earliest cuisines known of being the indigenous ones. With over a hundred years of historical development, mainstream Taiwanese cuisine has been influenced by Hakka cuisine, the cuisines of the waishengren, Japanese cuisine, and American cuisine, with southern Fujian cuisine having had the most profound impact.

Benu is the first restaurant in San Francisco to have received Three Michelin Stars. Located in the SoMa district, Benu was opened in 2010 by chef Corey Lee, the former Chef de Cuisine at the French Laundry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California cuisine</span> Food from California

California cuisine is a food movement that originated in Northern California. The cuisine focuses on dishes that are driven by local and sustainable ingredients with an attention to seasonality and an emphasis on the bounty of the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frybread</span> Variety of flatbread

Frybread is a dish of the indigenous people of North America that is a flat dough bread, fried or deep-fried in oil, shortening, or lard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">José Andrés</span> Spanish-American chef

José Ramón Andrés Puerta is a Spanish-American chef and restaurateur. Born in Spain, he moved to the United States in the early 1990s and since then, he has opened restaurants in several American cities. He has won a number of awards, both for his cooking, and his humanitarian work. He is a professor as well as the founder of the Global Food Institute at George Washington University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oglala</span> Traditional tribal grouping within the Lakota people

The Oglala are one of the seven subtribes of the Lakota people who, along with the Dakota, make up the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ. A majority of the Oglala live on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the eighth-largest Native American reservation in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gavin Kaysen</span> American chef

Gavin Kaysen is executive chef and owner of Spoon and Stable, Bellecour Bakery, Demi, Socca, and Mara all in Minneapolis. He received the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Midwest in 2018. Previous to his move to Minneapolis, he served as Executive Chef and Director of Culinary Operations for Daniel Boulud in New York City, over seeing Café Boulud in Palm Beach, Toronto and New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sean Brock</span> American chef (born 1978)

Sean Brock is an American chef specializing in Southern cuisine.

<i>The Sioux Chefs Indigenous Kitchen</i> 2017 recipe book

The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen is a recipe book written by Sean Sherman with Beth Dooley, published by the University of Minnesota Press in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Sean Sherman is an Oglala Lakota chef who was born in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, and is currently based in South Minneapolis. Sherman opened an Indigenous cuisine restaurant within the Water Works park development project overlooking Saint Anthony Falls and the Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis in 2021.

Indigenous cuisine is a type of cuisine that is based on the preparation of cooking recipes with products obtained from native species of a specific area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sean Sherman</span> Oglala Lakota Sioux chef and cookbook author

Sean Sherman is an Oglala Lakota Sioux chef, cookbook author, forager, and promoter of Indigenous cuisine. Sherman founded the indigenous food education business and caterer The Sioux Chef and founded the nonprofit North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems (NĀTIFS). He received a James Beard Foundation Leadership Award and his 2017 cookbook, The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen, won the 2018 James Beard Award for Best American Cookbook. In 2022 Owamni, won the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lois Ellen Frank</span> American food historian and culinary anthropologist

Lois Ellen Frank is an American food historian, cookbook author, culinary anthropologist, and educator. She won a 2003 James Beard Foundation Award for her cookbook Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations, the first cookbook of Native American cuisine so honored.

<i>Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations</i> Cookbook of Native American cuisine

Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations is a 2002 cookbook by Lois Ellen Frank, food historian, cookbook author, photographer, and culinary anthropologist. The book won a 2003 James Beard award, the first Native American cuisine cookbook so honored. CNN called it "the first Native American cookbook to turn the heads of James Beard Foundation award judges".

Gregory Gourdet is an American chef, writer, restaurateur, and former finalist on the twelfth and seventeenth seasons of Bravo's American reality television series, Top Chef. He is of Haitian descent. He is the owner of the restaurant Kann and the former executive chef and culinary director of Departure at The Nines in Portland, Oregon. His book, Everyone’s Table: Global Recipes for Modern Health, is a national bestseller.

Corey Lee is a Korean-American chef and restaurateur based in San Francisco. In 2014, his flagship restaurant, Benu, became the first in San Francisco to receive three Stars from the Michelin Guide, making Lee the first Korean chef to garner that accolade. In 2019, Benu made its debut on The World's 50 Best Restaurants. Lee is also a two-time James Beard Award winner and a goodwill ambassador to Seoul.

Brian Yazzie, known as Yazzie the Chef is a Navajo chef. He celebrates and promotes Indigenous American foods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Off the Rez</span> Restaurant in Seattle, Washington, U.S.

Off the Rez is a restaurant in Seattle, in the U.S. state of Washington. Owned by Mark McConnell of the Blackfeet Nation in Browning, Montana, as well as his partner, Cecilia Rikard, the business has operated as a food truck and as a cafe at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ʔálʔal Café</span> Restaurant in Seattle, Washington, U.S.

The ʔálʔal Café was a restaurant in Pioneer Square, Seattle, in the U.S. state of Washington. It operated from 2022 to 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dana Thompson</span>

Dana Thompson is an American restaurateur, songwriter, and promoter of indigenous cuisine and food sovereignty. In 2022 her Minneapolis, Minnesota, restaurant Owamni won the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis Trevino</span> Ohlone chef

Louis Trevino is an American Rumsen Ohlone chef and co-founder of Cafe Ohlone. Trevino was raised in the Los Angeles area and attended UC Berkeley. He met his future partner Vincent Medina at an Indigenous languages conference in 2014.

References

  1. ↑ Burton, Nylah (October 11, 2021). "With a Menu of Indigenous Ingredients, Owamni Is a Must-Visit Dining Destination". Vogue. Condé Nast. Archived from the original on October 2, 2024. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
  2. ↑ "Sioux Chef's new restaurant Owamni makes us think, in a delicious way". Pioneer Press. September 9, 2021. Archived from the original on December 2, 2021. Retrieved June 17, 2022.
  3. 1 2 Thompson, Darren (September 16, 2023). "Sean Sherman's Non-Profit Acquires Award-Winning Owamni Restaurant, Continues Vision to Revitalize Indigenous Food Sovereignty". Native News Online . Archived from the original on February 6, 2024. Retrieved February 6, 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "The Sioux Chef's Indigenous restaurant Owamni is now open". kare11.com. July 22, 2021. Archived from the original on June 17, 2022. Retrieved June 17, 2022.
  5. 1 2 Ellis, Stefanie (September 28, 2022). "Owamni: A (r)evolution of indigenous foods". World's Table. BBC. Archived from the original on December 19, 2022. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
  6. ↑ Nelson, Rick (June 4, 2021). "Sioux Chef Sean Sherman's new Minneapolis restaurant Owamni will blend the past and future". Star Tribune. Archived from the original on December 19, 2022. Retrieved December 19, 2022.
  7. 1 2 Kormann, Carolyn (September 12, 2022). "How Owamni Became the Best New Restaurant in the United States". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on March 18, 2023. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
  8. ↑ "Owamni in Mpls wins national James Beard award". MPR News. Archived from the original on June 15, 2022. Retrieved June 17, 2022.
  9. 1 2 "Decolonized menu at Owamni by the Sioux Chef". Indian Country Today. August 26, 2021. and Goldszal, Clémentine (December 7, 2022). "Thanksgiving: In Minneapolis, Owamni puts indigenous cuisine on the menu". Le Monde. Archived from the original on October 2, 2024. Retrieved December 23, 2022.
  10. ↑ Chu, Louisa (November 18, 2021). "Owamni by The Sioux Chef boldly reclaims Indigenous food in the Midwest: 'It's an act of resistance that we exist'". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on December 21, 2022. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
  11. 1 2 Jackson, Anna-Louise (September 14, 2022). "Indigenous American Chefs Are Drawing Crowds, Hoping Funding Follows". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on September 26, 2022. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  12. ↑ Jackson, Sharyn (August 4, 2021). "Now open: Minneapolis' first full-service Indigenous restaurant, Owamni by the Sioux Chef". Star Tribune. Archived from the original on October 2, 2024. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  13. ↑ Mendez, Natalia (November 16, 2021). "Owamni Deliciously Decolonizes Your Plate". Racket. Archived from the original on October 2, 2024. Retrieved December 23, 2022.
  14. ↑ Koenig, Ronnie (November 10, 2022). "Sean Sherman shines a light on Native American traditions with cranberry wojape". Today. Archived from the original on December 22, 2022. Retrieved December 22, 2022. and Chan, Delle (August 2, 2021). "The pioneer: how chef Sean Sherman is shining a light on Native American cuisine". National Geographic. Archived from the original on October 2, 2024. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  15. ↑ Restaurant of the year, 2021, in Cheng, Jon (December 19, 2021). "Owamni". Star Tribune. Archived from the original on December 19, 2022. Retrieved December 19, 2022., Fifty favorite restaurants, 2021, "The Restaurant List". The New York Times. October 12, 2021. Archived from the original on June 19, 2023. Retrieved December 22, 2022. and "Artisan & Authenticity" award, 2022, "Awards 2022". La Liste. 2022. Archived from the original on October 2, 2024. Retrieved December 19, 2022.
  16. ↑ Fabricant, Florence (June 14, 2022). "Mashama Bailey and Owamni Win Top Honors at James Beard Awards". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 20, 2022. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
  17. ↑ "The 2022 James Beard Award Winners". James Beard Foundation. Archived from the original on February 18, 2023. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.