2025 James Beard Award Winners: Chefs And Restaurants

Tonight, in a star-studded ceremony at the Lyric Opera in Chicago, the James Beard Foundation announced the winners of the 2025 James Beard Awards, considered the highest accolade for chefs and restaurateurs in America. In the major categories, Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder, Colorado was named Outstanding Restaurant, Jungsik Yim of Jungsik in New York City took home the award for Outstanding Chef, and Bûcheron in Minneapolis was named Best New Restaurant. It was a big night in general for NYC, which was shut out of the major categories entirely last year: This year, Atomix won for Outstanding Hospitality, while the team of Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr (of Frenchette, Le Veau d’ Or, and Le Rock) won Outstanding Restaurateur.

This evening’s Restaurant and Chef Awards follow Saturday’s Media Awards hosted by Padma Lakshmi, which celebrated food media working in cookbooks, journalism, and television and audio. For this 35th-annual Restaurant and Chef Awards, Nyesha Harrington and Andrew Zimmern acted as the ceremony hosts.

Tonight’s award winners, selected from a finalists list announced on April 2, follow previously announced 2025 Beard Award recipients: journalist and historian Toni Tipton-Martin (who earned the Lifetime Achievement Award), Cafe Momentum founder Chad Houser (who received the Humanitarian of the Year Award), and the five winners of the Impact Award. Several winners addressed the current political moment directly in their speeches — three specifically emphatically declared “fuck ICE” at the end of their remarks. The full list of winners, below:

2025 James Beard Awards: Restaurant and Chef Award Winners

Four people stand at a podium on stage, with a large screen projecting their image.

Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr took home the Beard for Outstanding Restaurateur.

Stephanie Wu/Eater

Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr, Frenchette, Le Veau d’ Or, and Le Rock, New York, NY

Jungsik Yim, Jungsik, New York, NY

Frasca Food and Wine, Boulder, CO

Phila Lorn, Mawn, Philadelphia, PA

Bûcheron, Minneapolis, MN

Two woman stand at a podium; one wearing a James Beard Award silver medal cradles the hand of another to her face.

The team at JinJu Patisserie accepts their award, dedicating it to the Portland, Oregon culinary community.

JinJu Patisserie, Portland, OR

Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker

Cat Cox, Country Bird Bakery, Tulsa, OK

Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program

Charleston, Baltimore, MD

Identidad Cocktail Bar, San Juan, PR

Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service

Arjav Ezekiel, Birdie’s, Austin, TX

Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service

Ignacio Jimenez, Superbueno, New York, NY

Smiling woman behind a podium with a silver medal around her neck.

Julia Momose of Kumiko in Chicago accepts her award for Outstanding Bar. “At Kumiko, every day we remember we are a team of immigrants, we are children of immigrants,” Momose said.

Jon Yao, Kato, Los Angeles, CA

Best Chef: Great Lakes (IL, IN, MI, OH)

Noah Sandoval, Oriole, Chicago, IL

Carlos Delgado and Alex Lazo accept the award for Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic.

Stephanie Wu/Eater

Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic (DC, DE, MD, NJ, PA, VA)

Carlos Delgado, Causa and Amazonia, Washington, D.C.

Best Chef: Midwest (IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD, WI)

Karyn Tomlinson, Myriel, St. Paul, MN

Best Chef: Mountain (CO, ID, MT, UT, WY)

Salvador Alamilla, Amano, Caldwell, ID

Three man stand on a large stage with their image projected behind them.

Vijay Kumar of NYC’s Semma accepts his Best Chef: New York State award by noting, “I stand here for everyone who thought their story never belonged on a stage like this.”

Stephanie Wu/Eater

Best Chef: New York State

Vijay Kumar, Semma, New York, NY

Best Chef: Northeast (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT)

Sky Haneul Kim, Gift Horse, Providence, RI

Best Chef: Northwest & Pacific (AK, HI, OR, WA)

Timothy Wastell, Antica Terra, Amity, OR

Best Chef: South (AL, AR, FL, LA, MS, PR)

Nando Chang, Itamae AO, Miami, FL

Man with beard wears a medal at the James Beard Awards podium.

Nashville’s Jake Howell accepts the Best Chef: Southeast award.

Best Chef: Southeast (GA, KY, NC, SC, TN, WV)

Jake Howell, Peninsula, Nashville, TN

Best Chef: Southwest (AZ, NM, NV, OK)

Yotaka Martin, Lom Wong, Phoenix, AZ

Thomas Bille, Belly of the Beast, Spring, TX

The following wins were previously announced:

2025 James Beard America’s Classics

• Lem’s Bar-B-Q, Chicago

• The Pioneer Saloon, Ketchum, ID

• Sullivan’s Castle Island, Boston

• Lucky Wishbone, Anchorage, AK

• Dooky Chase, New Orleans, LA

• Gaido’s, Galveston, TX

• U.S. Representative Angie Craig (the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Agriculture)

• Brandon Edwin Chrostowski (CEO of Edwins Leadership & Restaurant Institute)

• Anthony Edwards, Jr., (co-founder of Black-owned restaurants guide EatOkra)

• Seanicaa Edwards Herron (founder and executive director of the Freedmen Heirs Foundation)

• Dune Lankard (president and founder of Native Conservancy)

Disclosure: Some Vox Media staff members are part of the voting body for the James Beard Awards. Eater is partnering with the James Beard Foundation to livestream the awards in 2025. All editorial content is produced independently of the James Beard Foundation.

Additional photo illustration credits: Getty Images for the James Beard Foundation

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