It was a busy night at Hai Hai Restaurant in northeast Minneapolis.

“It is wonderful, delicious, really, really good,” exclaimed Margaret Arnold from Shoreview. “I enjoyed everything.”

Now, this Southeast Asian food institution that’s been open six-and-a-half years has something else on the menu.

Owner and chef Christina Nguyen has won the prestigious James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Midwest.

“It is very surreal, still not sure I believe it happened. It might have been a dream,” Nguyen says. “It’s super humbling. I’m super-honored and so proud of my team and everybody with their hard work day-to-day.”

The award-winning dish — her Hanoi Sticky Rice Bowl — is made with ground pork, Chinese sausage, mung beans, shallots, and pickled vegetables.

“I think it’s the flavor profile, I think there’s great vegetarian options,” says Tessa Gudmestad from Minneapolis. “I like that you can kind of piece together a really good meal or have a snack.”

Nguyen says James Beard judges typically dine undercover — ordering dishes like everyone else.

“I think there are people who secretly come and try different dishes and yeah, make a decision on who they want to vote for,” she explains. “Now, people’s palates have just grown more eccentric and are more accepting of these flavors than ever before.”

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, at Union Hmong Kitchen, Chef Yia Vang was celebrating Nguyen’s award.

“The moment like it was on Twitter, she won, I text her right away like so excited for you,” he says.

Vang says his restaurant is gearing up for the Minnesota State Fair, making thousands of galabao-stuffed pastries.

Last year, a prep team that included his mother created 18,000 of the treats for the fair … and ran out.

This year, he’s vowing to make 22,000.

“When it comes to Asian food, and Southeast Asian food, we’ve always known it was delicious,” Vang says. “Words like fermented, words like sour, or pickle — people aren’t afraid of that anymore, so that’s why I think there’s a new light being shined on Asian food, Southeast Asian food in general.”

We asked Nguyen about what’s next after this achievement.

She says she isn’t ruling out some kind of restaurant expansion but says right now, she just wants to keep making good food.

“I think it’s an exciting time for all of us Asian chefs and immigrant chefs that are putting out food that maybe in the past that Minnesotans were not as daring to try,” she says.