The James Beard Foundation gave out its annual culinary awards Monday night in Chicago, with the chefs and co-hosts Andrew Zimmern and Nyesha Arrington handing out gold medals to chefs, restaurateurs, bakers and bartenders from across the United States.
To reflect the growing influence of cocktail and bar culture, three new awards were given out this year: best new bar, outstanding professional in beverage service and outstanding professional in cocktail service.
New York City restaurants won three of the six major national awards: outstanding chef (Jungsik Yim of Jungsik), outstanding hospitality (Atomix) and outstanding restaurateur (Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr of Frenchette, Le Rock and Le Veau d’Or).
It was the 35th edition of the black-tie gala, which has been transformed from a Monday-night-only event (to allow chefs to squeeze in a trip when restaurants are traditionally closed) to a full weekend of panels and pop-ups. (Food media professionals like writers, directors, podcasters and influencers received their awards at a ceremony on Saturday.)
The awards program was suspended in 2020 and 2021 as the industry responded to the pandemic, and as the foundation tried to incorporate rapidly evolving ideas about race, gender, privilege and workers’ rights. Since then, priorities have shifted away from the traditional guest experience — food, service and décor — and toward evaluating chefs and restaurants as employers, community members and professional leaders.
And the range of awards keeps expanding. To the existing “humanitarian” title, this year the foundation added “impact” awards for people who work toward a more “equitable, sustainable and economically viable” food system, such as Angie Craig, a U.S. representative from Minnesota and a member of the House Committee on Agriculture, and Anthony Edwards Jr., a co-founder of EatOkra, a hospitality platform for Black-owned food businesses.
The writer and historian Toni Tipton-Martin, who has documented Black food traditions in books like “Heritage,” “Jubilee” and “The Jemima Code,” won the lifetime achievement award for her work. Chad Houser, who won the humanitarian award for his Dallas restaurant, Cafe Momentum, which is staffed by young people affected by the juvenile justice system, said of the recognition, “It’s a sign that the world is changing.”
National Awards
Outstanding Chef
Jungsik Yim, Jungsik, New York
Outstanding Restaurant
Frasca Food and Wine, Boulder, Colo.
Outstanding Restaurateur
Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr, Frenchette, Le Rock, Le Veau d’Or, New York
Best New Restaurant
Bûcheron, Minneapolis
Emerging Chef
Phila Lorn, Mawn, Philadelphia
Outstanding Hospitality
Atomix, New York
Outstanding Bakery
Jinju Patisserie, Portland, Ore.
Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker
Cat Cox, Country Bird Bakery, Tulsa, Okla.
Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program
Charleston, Baltimore
Outstanding Bar
Kumiko, Chicago
Best New Bar (New)
Identidad Cocktail Bar, San Juan, P.R.
Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service (New)
Arjav Ezekiel, Birdie’s, Austin, Texas
Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service (New)
Ignacio Jimenez, Superbueno, New York
Regional Awards
Best Chef: New York State
Vijay Kumar, Semma, New York
Best Chef: California
Jon Yao, Kato, Los Angeles
Best Chef: Great Lakes (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio)
Noah Sandoval, Oriole, Chicago
Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic (Washington, D.C., Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia)
Carlos Delgado, Causa and Amazonia, Washington
Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific (Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington)
Timothy Wastell, Antica Terra, Amity, Ore.
Best Chef: Midwest (Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin)
Karyn Tomlinson, Myriel, St. Paul, Minn.
Best Chef: Mountain (Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming)
Salvador Alamilla, Amano, Caldwell, Idaho
Best Chef: Northeast (Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont)
Skye Haneul Kim, Gift Horse, Providence, R.I.
Best Chef: Southeast (Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia.)
Jake Howell, Peninsula, Nashville
Best Chef: South (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Puerto Rico)
Nando Chang, Itamae AO, Miami
Best Chef: Southwest (Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma)
Yotaka Martin, Lom Wong, Phoenix
Best Chef: Texas
Thomas Bille, Belly of the Beast, Spring, Texas
Humanitarian of the Year
Chad Houser, Cafe Momentum, Dallas
Lifetime Achievement Award
Toni Tipton-Martin
Julia Moskin is a Times reporter who covers everything related to restaurants, chefs, food and cooking.
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