One of the culinary industry’s most celebrated events, the annual James Beard Awards ceremony has been honoring the exceptional talent, innovation, and dedication of chefs and restaurateurs from across the country for over 30 years. The foundation has played a significant role in celebrating and promoting culinary excellence and is considered among the nation’s most prestigious honors.
With that being said, there would be no James Beard Awards ceremony without New York City being present–as one of the world’s culinary capitals, and one of the best foodie cities in the world, the city obviously found its way onto the list, and more than once for that matter!
2025 marks an incredible milestone: the 35th anniversary of the James Beard Awards, and while the 2025 semifinalists were unveiled back in January of this year, the 2025 finalists were announced on April 2nd. Here’s now NYC shapes up:
These are the NYC nominations for the 2025 James Beard Awards
Best New Restaurant
- Penny, the upstairs raw bar from the Claud team
Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service
- Cassandra Felix – Daniel
Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service
- Ignacio “Nacho” Jimenez – Superbueno
Best Chef: New York State
- Nasim Alikhani – Sofreh
- Eiji Ichimura – Ichimura
- Atsushi Kono – Kono
- Vijay Kumar – Semma
Outstanding Restaurateur
- Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr – Frenchette, Le Veau d’Or, and Le Rock
Outstanding Chef
- Gabriel Kreuther – Gabriel Kreuther
- Jungsik Yim – Jungsik
For Outstanding Hospitality
- Atomix, the Korean tasting menu spot
You can see the full list of nominees on the James Beard Foundation website. And stay tuned because the highly anticipated 2025 James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards will be held on Monday, June 16th at the Lyric Opera House in Chicago, where final winners will be revealed.