Here are Boston's 2025 James Beard Award finalists

These are our finalists:

• Merai, a Thai-inspired bar in Brookline — Best New Bar
• Erin Miller of Urban Hearth in Cambridge — Best Chef: Northeast

What's new: Three new categories center around cocktails and other beverages: Best New Bar, Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service, and Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service.

• Alyssa Mikiko DiPasquale from The Koji Club in Brighton had been named a semifinalist for outstanding professional in beverage service, but got knocked out this round.

Douglass Williams, who won the 2023 James Beard award for best chef in the Northeast, was knocked out of consideration for outstanding restaurateur.

Zoom out: The finalists include other New England eateries.

• Nikhil Naiker of Providence's NIMKI — Emerging Chef
• Wolf Tree of White River Junction, Vermont — Outstanding Bar
• Oberlin in Providence — Outstanding Restaurant
• Allison Gibson and Cara Tobin of Burlington's Honey Road and Grey Jay — Outstanding Restaurateur
• Super Secret Ice Cream of Bethlehem, New Hampshire — Outstanding Bakery
• Three other contestants for Best Chef: Northeast: Avery Buck of May Day in Burlington, Vermont; Sky Haneul Kim of Gift Horse in Providence; and Brian Lewis of The Cottage in Westport, Connecticut.

What's next: The winners will be celebrated at a star-studded ceremony in Chicago on June 16.