5 NYC Restaurants, Chefs Named 2025 James Beard Winners

NEW YORK CITY - The Big Apple took home some major hardware at Monday’s James Beard Foundation Awards ceremony at the Lyric Opera in Chicago.

The awards, regarded as the Academy Awards of the U.S. restaurant industry, honor excellence across a range of categories, from fine dining to casual gems.

Outstanding Restaurateur: Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr, Frenchette, Le Veau d'Or, and Le Rock, New York, NY

Outstanding Chef presented by Hilton: Jungsik Yim, Jungsik, New York, NY

Outstanding Hospitality presented by American Airlines: Atomix, New York, NY

Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service: Ignacio "Nacho" Jimenez, Superbueno, New York, NY

Best Chef: New York State: Vijay Kumar, Semma, New York, NY

2025 is the 35th anniversary of the prestigious culinary awards that recognize eateries and chefs who create exceptional food, food media content, and better food systems, according to the James Beard Foundation. Awards also recognize a demonstrated commitment to racial and gender equity, community, sustainability, and a culture where all can thrive.

This year in celebration of the pivotal anniversary, the 2025 Restaurant and Chef Awards were presented across 25 categories, with an expanded focus on beverages, introducing three new categories: Best New Bar, Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service, and Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service.

Other categories include outstanding restaurateur, outstanding chef, outstanding restaurant, emerging chef, best new restaurant, outstanding bakery, outstanding pastry chef or baker, outstanding hospitality, outstanding wine and other beverages program, outstanding bar and best chef.

The other New York restaurants and chefs were named semifinalists in January were:

Outstanding Restaurateur

• Simon Kim, Gracious Hospitality Management (COTE, Undercote, and COQODAQ), New York, NY

Outstanding Chef

• Gabriel Kreuther, Gabriel Kreuther, New York, NY

Outstanding Restaurant

• Don Angie, New York, NY
• The Four Horsemen, Brooklyn, NY

Emerging Chef

• Danny Garcia, Time & Tide, New York, NY
• Daniel Garwood, Acru, New York, NY

Best New Restaurant

• Café Carmellini, New York, NY
• Corima, New York, NY
• Kisa, New York, NY

Outstanding Bakery

• Fan Fan Doughnuts, Brooklyn, NY

Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker

• Camari Mick, Raf's, New York, NY

Outstanding Hospitality

• Melba's, New York, NY

Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program

• Hawksmoor, New York, NY

Outstanding Bar

• Leyenda, Brooklyn, NY

Best New Bar

• Sip & Guzzle, New York, NY

Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service

• Cassandra Felix, Daniel, New York, NY

Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service

• Takuma Watanabe, Martiny’s, New York, NY

Advanced to be Named Nominees in April:

• For Best New Restaurant: Penny
• For Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service: Cassandra Felix, Daniel

The James Beard Awards also include a New York State Best Chef award. For that award, the New York City nominees were:

• Nasim Alikhani, Sofreh
• Eiji Ichimura, Sushi Ichimura
• Atsushi Kono, Kono