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Kansas City tortilla shop Yoli takes home major honor at 2023 James Beard Awards

David Hudnall
·2 min read
“The Sonoran flour tortilla is like my pride and joy because that’s where I’m from,” said Marissa Gencarelli, who hails from Sonora, Mexico. Gencarelli owns the business with her husband, Mark Gencarelli.
“The Sonoran flour tortilla is like my pride and joy because that’s where I’m from,” said Marissa Gencarelli, who hails from Sonora, Mexico. Gencarelli owns the business with her husband, Mark Gencarelli.

The Westside tortilla shop Yoli Tortilleria is the winner of this year’s James Beard Award for Outstanding Bakery.

Owner Marissa Gencarelli, who is originally from Sonora, Mexico, accepted the award alongside her husband and co-owner, Mark, at a ceremony Monday evening at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

“Thank you for helping us honor the very humble tortilla,” Gencarelli told the crowd from the podium, adding that baking was a way for her and Mark “to connect and honor my ancestors (while living in) the middle of North America.” Gencarelli closed her brief speech by thanking the folks back home: “Our city, Kansas City: Without you, we wouldn’t be here, thank you so much, muchas gracias!”

The Gencarellis started their business in 2017, renting space in the East Bottoms to make corn tortillas using a traditional nixtamalization process. Their artisan approach caught the attention of several local chefs, and soon they were supplying tortillas to restaurants across the city. Today, Yoli employs 15 full-time workers, has two locations, and ships corn and flour tortillas to more than 100 restaurants and grocery stores in the metro.

Yoli beat out bakeries in New Orleans, Dallas and Miami for the honor. It was a semifinalist for Outstanding Baker in 2022.

The Shawnee cocktail bar Drastic Measures was also a Beard finalist on Monday night, for Outstanding Bar. But the winner in that category was Bar Leather Apron, in Honolulu.

This year saw seven Kansas City-area establishments nominated as semi-finalists in the prestigious awards, sometimes called the “Oscars of the food world.”

In addition to Yoli and Drastic Measures, those included Johnny Leach, executive chef for The Town Company, for Outstanding Chef; The Restaurant at 1900 for Outstanding Hospitality; and Pam Liberda of Waldo Thai, Michael Corvino of Corvino Supper Club & Tasting Room, and Nick Goellner for Best Chef: Midwest.

Beard nominees from the Kansas City area are common, but winners are rare. The most recent Beard award winner was Bluestem chef Colby Garrelts, who won Best Chef: Midwest in 2013. Celina Tio of The American took home the same honor in 2007, as did Michael Smith and Debbie Gold in 1999, also for their work at The American.