These are San Francisco's 2025 James Beard Award semifinalists
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More than a dozen of San Francisco's finest restaurants and chefs have been named semifinalists for the 2025 James Beard Awards — one of the country's highest culinary honors.
Why it matters: Apart from being like the Oscars but for food, the semifinalist list announced Wednesday doubles as a guide for some of the city's top restaurants.
- The awards highlight the best in categories like baking, hospitality, wine, restaurant and regional chef.
Zoom in: Here are some of the Bay Area's semi-finalists:
- Best New Restaurant: Four Kings. 710 Commercial St.
- Best New Bar: The Halfway Club. 1166 Geneva Ave.
- Outstanding Restaurant: Benu. 22 Hawthorne St.
- Outstanding Bar: True Laurel. 753 Alabama St.
- Outstanding Professional in Beverages: Jacob Brown of Lazy Bear (3416 19th St) and Tonya Pitts of One Market (1 Market St).
- Outstanding Professional in Cocktails: Danny Louie of KAIYŌ. Three locations.
- Outstanding Wine/Beverages: Kitchen Istanbul. 349 Clement St.
- Outstanding Chef: Suzette Gresham-Tognetti of Acquerello. 1722 Sacramento St.
- Outstanding Restaurateur: Stuart Brioza and Nicole Krasinski of The Anchovy Bar (1740 O'Farrell St), State Bird Provisions (1529 Fillmore St), and The Progress (1525 Fillmore St).
- Outstanding Pastry Chef/Baker: Monique Feybesse of Tarts de Feybesse. 324 24th St, Oakland.
- Emerging Chef: Spencer Horowitz of Hadeem. Find him on Instagram to see where he'll take his pop-up next.
The Best Chef category (California region) featured five Bay Area spots:
- Val Cantu of Californios. 355 11th St.
- Nite Yun of Lunette. Ferry Building, Floor 1 Suite 33/47.
- Richard Lee of Saison. 178 Townsend St.
- Kosuke Tada of Mijoté. 2400 Harrison St.
- Gaby Maeda of Friends & Family. 468 25th St, Oakland.
Flashback: Two local favorites — The Morris and Pacific Cocktail Haven —were named finalists last year, but neither won.
- San Francisco hasn't brought home an award since 2022 when Brandon Jew of Mister Jiu's won the best chef California category.
What's next: A narrower list of nominees will be announced April 2 and winners will be named at a June 16 ceremony in Chicago.
Go deeper: Find the full list of semi-finalists here.