Yun Fuentes, the chef-owner of Bolo, has been named to the James Beard Foundation’s most recent TasteTwenty list of restaurateurs to watch, writes Ryan Sharrow for the Philadelphia Business Journal.
Fuentes opened the Latin American restaurant in Rittenhouse Square back in 2023.
Prior to that, he worked as executive chef at Alma de Cuba, and beforehand, as a chef at Amada and Village Whiskey.
According to the James Beard Foundation, the TasteTwenty list “recognizes some of the industry’s finest talent and changemakers who exemplify the organization’s guiding principle of Good Food for Good.”
Fuentes was named as one of 20 across the nation.
For the past two years, Fuentes has been named a semifinalist for the James Beard Award. This year, he was in the running for the Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic category, while he was a semifinalist in the Emerging Chef category in 2024.
The TasteTwenty initiative is part of the foundation’s Taste America series. Several events will be taking place across the U.S. The Philadelphia event with Fuentes is expected to take place in March 2026.
Read more about Yun Fuentes and other Philadelphia chefs who have made the TasteTwenty list in past years in the Philadelphia Business Journal.
_____
