The James Beard Awards are among the most coveted in the industry. | Photo courtesy of Eliesa Johnson.
The finalists for the 2025 James Beard Awards were announced in Los Angeles on Wednesday, narrowing the field for the award ceremony that will be held in Chicago on June 16.
Held at the Conrad Los Angeles, a property of Beard award sponsor Hilton Hotels, the event celebrated nominees across the country in the various categories, including three new ones this year: Best New Bar, Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service, and Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service.
The foundation also named the honorees under a new program called the Impact Awards, which aims to recognize changemakers working toward a more equitable, sustainable and economically viable restaurant industry and food system. Those honorees will be celebrated at a special ceremony scheduled for June 15 in Chicago, and they will also be on stage at the glittering June 16 award show, which will be held at the Lyric Opera.
(The media award winners will be announced on June 15, making the awards a three-day event in Chicago for some. Nominees for the media awards will be revealed May 7.)
A few of the announced restaurant nominees were in the room in Los Angeles, a crowd studded with mostly local restaurant celebrities, like the famed pastry chef Sherry Yard; restaurateur Mary Sue Milliken (who’s on the foundation’s board of trustees), and Kismet restaurant chefs and owners Sara Kramer and Sarah Hymanson.
Nominees attending the reveal party were Tobin Shea, beverage director for Redbird in Los Angeles, who was nominated for the new Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service; as well as Ying Chang and Robert Adamson of Strong Water in Anaheim, California, which was nominated for Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages. It's Chang and Adamson’s second year being nominated for their tiki bar, with a lost-pirate-ship vibe and creative beverage program.
Nominees Ying Chang and Robert Adamson (left) of Strong Water; and Tobin Shea of Redbird were at the event. | Photo by Lisa Jennings
All three were thrilled to hear they made the final cut.
Los Angeles chef Elizabeth Falkner, who chaired the awards committee and was a presenter, said she was a nominee some years ago and, at the time, was told by known chefs that “just being nominated was big, and it would change your career.”
She didn’t win the award.
“But they were still right. From that moment on, I became more focused on the journey and the education I had received from all the things I study and make, mostly food,” she said. “And the moral of the story is that being nominated is a huge deal. So if you hear your name today, please go out and celebrate your achievement.”
Here are the finalist nominees for the Beard awards, and the Impact Award honorees:
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(Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio):
(D.C., Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia):
(Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin):
(Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah):
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(Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont):
(Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington state):
(Alabama, Arkansas, Florida Louisiana, Mississippi, Puerto Rico):
(Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma):
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- Seanicaa Edwards Herron, founder and executive director of the Freedmen Heirs Foundation, a nonprofit that supports Black farmers.
- Dune Lankard, president and founder of the Native Conservancy, who has helped preserve acres of wild salmon habitat along the Gulf of Alaska coastline and is raising ocean kelp.
- Toni Tipton-Martin, author, culinary journalist and activist, and editor-in-chief of Cook’s Country Magazine.
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Chad Houser, founder of Café Momentum in Dallas, a restaurant and culinary training facility to equip teens ages 15 to 19 with life skills. Café Momentum has expanded to Atlanta and Pittsburgh, with a fourth location scheduled to open next year in Denver.
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