Chef
Ethan Lim
- Discipline
- Chef
- Based in
- Chicago, Illinois, United States
i. Biography
From a refugee camp in Thailand to the kitchen he opened in Chicago in 2015, Ethan Lim’s arc runs through study, Chicago venues, and a return to Cambodian flavor at his own restaurant. Now chef and owner of Hermosa Restaurant in Chicago, he cooks with family memory, nature, sustainability, and the herbs and vegetables he grows for the menu.
Early Years
Lim was born in a refugee camp in Thailand, a beginning that now sits close to the Cambodian cooking he is known for in Chicago. His training includes Kendall College, the culinary school that forms one fixed point in a career otherwise defined by movement through restaurants and rooms across the city. The path before his own place included work at Spring in Chicago. It also included The Aviary, The Office, and NEXT, each part of the local résumé that preceded the independent kitchen he would open. Those stops matter because they place his work inside Chicago’s dining map before it became attached to Cambodian cuisine under his own name.
Making a Name
In 2015, he opened Hermosa in Chicago. The restaurant became the place where his cooking could gather several threads at once: Cambodian cuisine, the complex history of Cambodia, ingredients grown close to hand, and dishes shaped by home cooking as much as professional training. Recognition came with the Jean Banchet Rising Chef of the Year Award. The honor attached his name to a Chicago awards conversation while his food kept moving toward a more personal vocabulary. One signature is the Cambodian Fried Chicken Sandwich, made with pickled papaya, garlic aïoli, lime, and herbs. The sandwich is described as creating flavors that are familiar, transcendent, and new, a compact expression of the way Lim works with memory and surprise on the same plate. Another key expression is Family Meal, a multi-course Cambodian tasting menu inspired by dishes his mother used to make at home. The format gives his cooking room to stretch beyond a single dish, carrying the rhythm of a meal rather than the quick hit of a specialty item. His cooking has also traveled into collaboration. At Marisol in Chicago, the limited-time Hermosa Holiday Stew brought together pork belly, butterball potato, gai lan, shiitake, and 48-hour chicken stock.
The Present
At the Chicago restaurant he owns and cooks for, Lim’s specialty remains Cambodian cuisine. The work is grounded in nature and sustainability, including the herbs and vegetables he grows for use in the kitchen. The result is a current practice built from exact ingredients and lived references: pickled papaya and lime in the sandwich, a tasting menu shaped by his mother’s home dishes, and a stew constructed around long-cooked stock. His career has moved through Kendall College, Spring, The Aviary, The Office, and NEXT, but its present center is the restaurant he opened in 2015.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Ethan
What roles has Ethan Lim held?
Ethan Lim has worked in Chicago venues and is chef and owner of Hermosa Restaurant in Chicago.
What is Ethan Lim doing now?
He cooks Cambodian cuisine at Hermosa Restaurant, using many herbs and vegetables he grows for the kitchen.
Where else has Ethan Lim worked?
He has worked at Spring, The Aviary, The Office, and NEXT in Chicago.
