Meet the James Beard Award semifinalist from Durham competing on ‘Top Chef’

Chef Oscar Diaz is someone you want to root for.

He’s funny and likeable, the kind of guy you want to hang out with to chat over a beer or two. And he makes memorable food, something you’d expect as a James Beard Award semifinalist with multiple restaurants.

He’s also one of two competitors from North Carolina on “Top Chef” Season 23 — filmed last fall in Charlotte. The other one is Brittany Cochran of Charlotte, the executive chef at Stagioni – Four Seasons of Food.

Although Diaz grew up in Chicago, he’s made an imprint on North Carolina’s restaurant scene, turning Durham into a home base of sorts. His playful food — which he deems “pocho cuisine” — is a personal take on his experiences as the child of first-generation Mexican immigrants and growing up with American influences.

Diaz earned recognition as a two-time James Beard Award semifinalist while working as executive chef and partner in Raleigh at The Cortez, which he left in 2023 to open Little Bull. The Cortez closed in March 2025, but other restaurant ventures he’s connected with have been popping up all over the Triangle.

Then along came an opportunity to join the ranks of the chefs competing on “Top Chef Carolinas,” which filmed last fall in Charlotte and Greenville, S.C.

“I had never really even watched ‘Top Chef,’” Diaz told CharlotteFive. “I mean, I’d seen episodes and stuff. But it’s not like I was an avid fan before.”

At first, he wasn’t sure about participating in the sometimes-grueling culinary competition, having passed up similar opportunities before. But after the experience, he was glad he took the leap.

“Sometimes you think you know what’s best for you, and then you’ve got to just kind of break out of your shell. And I think that’s kind of what I’ve been doing in my career anyway.”

All about ‘Top Chef’s’ Oscar

In keeping with that spirit, Diaz said he’s a “fly by the seat of his pants” kind of guy. He didn’t set out to be an award-winning chef — he never even worked as a server or dishwasher.

Instead, he just fell into it, partially because: “I like eating a lot, and watching TV made cooking look fun sometimes,” he said.

“When I got into cooking, I kind of just didn’t know what I wanted to do in life. And so I had already gone to school and I worked in different fields, and I was kind of a creative,” he said. “I DJ’d. I was in bands, I would produce. But, you know, nine to fives just kind of weren’t working for me. And so I got into cooking.”

Twenty-some years ago, that first job just happened to be at a Las Vegas restaurant that would soon become Michelin recognized — a springboard that foreshadowed his own path, moving through kitchens in Los Angeles and Chicago before ending up in Raleigh.

“I think it just kind of instilled a good mindset for it. I was always a creative, and I think working with those kinds of chefs, it kind of helped guide my creativity and kind of gave me some structure to be able to build off and start doing my own things,” Diaz said.

From there, Diaz’s career has taken off like a rocket.

Along the way, he found his footing in the kitchen — even landing a Time Magazine feature in 2018 on fusion cooking in the “Nuevo South.”

Next came James Beard Award honors as a semifinalist for Best Chef: Southeast in 2019 and again in 2022.

“I got into this thing, and it was like winning the lottery, a really weird lottery where I have to work my face off to make money. But I don’t know that I took anything this serious before I got into cooking. And for some reason, as hard as it was and as poorly paid it was at the beginning, there was something about it that just I knew this was for me,” Diaz said.

On the heels of the “Top Chef” filming, yet another big moment came along. Little Bull was included in the first Michelin Guide American South, as a recommended restaurant. Its entry in the guide says:

“Blending his experience cooking across America with his Mexican heritage, Chef Oscar Diaz has created his own style of cooking. His time on the West Coast is evident and best seen in the vibrant and fresh small and larger plates designed for sharing. Judicious spicing and an array of textures add to the allure of these dishes, and house recommendations include the al pastor skewer and the tom kha ceviche. Really hungry? Tuck into the half chicken with pita for a satisfying meal. It’s all better paired with one of their very cold beers or a house cocktail.”

“I’m not the kind of person to congratulate myself in the middle of … the whole race,” he said. “Right now, things are going great, and I’m like, That’s awesome. … It’s been like a whirlwind.”

What you’ll find at Oscar Diaz’s restaurants

Diaz used to consider himself a fine dining chef, focused on small, intimate meals. But his time in Durham with his current restaurant partners have pushed toward a focus on “tasty food that might be thoughtful and prepared well and fresh, but not like a whole giant experience.”

After all, he notes, if you ask someone what their favorite dish is, it’s more likely to be something their mom made, not “foie gras from a three-star restaurant.”

He likes to cook what he likes to eat, mixing cultures and flavor profiles along with influences from the multicultural neighborhood he grew up in back in Chicago. “I’ll have some Puerto Rican rice and a Mexican steak, and then we’ll throw some kimchi on it. And I think it works,” Diaz said.

“Everything I cook, everything I do is highly personal,” he added. “For me, cooking is very identity driven, and everything I do is either based off creativity, things I’ve wanted to see, or the way view the world, the way I view food memories and nostalgia.“

Now, those experiences pours into his food at each of his restaurants, none of which overlap.

Aaktun bills itself as a “daytime coffee café turned tucked-away Tulum and Tiki-inspired dining experience by night.” Among the offerings at locations in Clayton and Durham are:

• Chorizo Papi sando (scrambled eggs, house chorizo, escabeche carrots and hot sauce)
• Spicy Chichen McNug Sando (Martin potato roll, housemade chicken nugget, spicy huli huli sauce, lettuce, tomato, pickle, salsa criolla and a side of tater tots)
• Short rib tacos
• Papaya salad (papaya, cucumber, cabbage, carrots, dried shrimp Prik nam pla, basil, mint and peanuts)

Cielito Taqueria, located in Burlington, offers diverse fare with street tacos and creative takes on pizza. Among the menu items you can choose from there are:

• ACP pizza (grilled chicken, marinara, cheese dip, mozzarella, poblano peppers and grilled onions)
• Vegetariano tacos (mushrooms, onions and bok choi)
• Birria machete (large corn quesadilla, cheese, crema Mexicana, pico de gallo, pickled onions, green and red sauce)

Little Bull, his restaurant in Durham, offers a menu stacked with seasonal small plates, entrees and drinks that ooze with personality:

• Oysters Ranchofeller (NC tiderunners, queso chihuahua, salsa molcajete, bacon, panko crumbs and garlic butter)
• Duck Chilaquiles (duck confit, salsa guajillo, totopos — tortilla chips — onion, crema, avocado salsa, Cotija cheese, radish cilantro and a sunny-side up egg)
• Halal Güeys (whole chicken, turmeric, salsa diabla, white sauce, greens, pita and house fries)
• Frenchxican Toast/French Toast De Natas (brioche pan de natas, egg batter, bruleed sugar, mixed berries and horchata glaze)

TaTaco in Durham is inspired by the Mexican mercados Diaz visited during childhood summers in Jalisco, Mexico. Its heavy focus on North Carolina-sourced seafood includes dishes such as:

• Raw oysters (passionfruit mignonette, lemon, hot sauce)
• Mega tuna tostada (NC tuna cubes and NC tuna tartare, Duke’s mayo, salsa migue, cucumbers, avocado and salsa macha)
• Tacos octopus (marinated octopus, salsa macha, queso fresco, radish, guacatillo, pickled onions, cilantro, rice, beans and salad)

How you can watch ‘Top Chef’

You’ll be able to see Diaz compete on Season 23 of “Top Chef,” which airs starting Tuesday, March 3 on Peacock, Bravo’s YouTube channel and VOD. On Monday, March 16, the series will move to its regular time slot at 9:30 p.m., with episodes available the next day on Peacock.

“It’s a wild experience. And I’m excited to see it for the first time, and I hope everyone else is excited to watch it,” Diaz said.

Aaktun Coffee & Bar

Location: 704 Ramseur Street, Durham, NC 27701

Location: 401 East Main Street, Clayton, NC

Menu

Cuisine: Sandwiches, small plates, coffee

Instagram: @aaktunnc

Barbaro Lounge

Location: 708 Ramseur St, Durham, NC, 27701 (opening soon)

Instagram: @ncbarbaro

Cielito Taqueria

Location: 108 Huffman Mill Road, Burlington, NC 27215

Menu

Cuisine: Mexican, pizza, tacos

Instagram: @cielitotaqueria

Little Bull

Location: 810 North Mangum St., Durham, NC 27701

Menu

Cuisine: Pocho – a mix of Mexican and American influences, small plates, brunch

Instagram: @littlebullnc

TaTaco

Location: 620 Foster St Suite B, Durham, NC 27701

Menu

Cuisine: Tacos

Instagram: @nctataco