The semifinalists for the 2025 James Beard Foundation Awards were announced today, and local chefs made their biggest showing yet with nominations in four national categories and five local chefs recognized on the long list for Best Chef: Midwest.
Minnesotans nab 11 semifinalist nods for the 2025 James Beard Awards
Local chefs and restaurants have a stellar showing in both national and regional categories.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
January 22, 2025 at 3:22PM
The high-profile culinary awards, widely viewed as the industry’s highest honors, recognize and celebrate excellence in restaurants and food media. The restaurant awards fall into 10 national categories and 12 regional categories.
This year’s semifinalists include national nods in four categories for local restaurants including: Outstanding Chef for Ann Ahmed for Khâluna in Minneapolis, Outstanding Hospitality for Mucci’s Italian in St. Paul, Outstanding Restaurant for Spoon and Stable in Minneapolis, and two nods in the Best New Restaurant category for Bûcheron and Vinai. Bar Brava made the list in the Outstanding Wine category.
Outstanding Restaurant: Spoon and Stable
Gavin Kaysen’s first Minneapolis restaurant, Spoon and Stable is recognized for Outstanding Restaurant just after celebrating its ten year anniversary.
“It’s really exciting. I love it, too, because it’s about the whole entity of the space and the team. I love that it celebrates everyone that has helped contribute to the restaurant,” said Kaysen.
“I never expect it. I knew the list was coming out today and I was hoping to see familiar names on it. It’s amazing to see alumni from Spoon and Stable recognized. Diane (Moua of Diane’s Place), Adam (Ritter of Bucheron) and Vinai are all there. They all came through Spoon.”
Kaysen moved to Minneapolis to open Spoon and Stable after working at the celebrated Cafe Boulud in New York City. He was also proud to see the national attention his hometown has received. “It’s incredible to see how important Minneapolis has become to the national food scene.”
Outstanding Wine: Bar Brava
Dan Rice fully ignored the old adage of real estate when he chose a North Minneapolis corner for his natural wine bar. But, since opening its doors, the area has begun to change. Change is at the heart of Bar Brava, where Rice is dedicated to uplifting winemakers with ethos and dedication to craft.
“We named Bar Brava for the Catalan word for ‘brave’ or ‘rugged,’” said Rice. “I think that kind of means everything natural wine stands for and we were planting a flag for what we do. To take wine production back to the ancient ways - to put the utmost attention on soil health. It’s what we stand for.”
To get the national recognition was nearly overwhelming. “It’s an honor. It’s a huge - I mean, James Beard anything is an big honor. We’re stoked. We’re looking forward to sharing more our wines with even more people.”
The chefs representing our region this year for Best Chef: Midwest are Shigeyuki Furukawa for Kado no Mise; Abraham Gessesse for Hyacinth; Mateo Mackbee for Krewe; Diane Moua for Diane’s Place and Karyn Tomlinson for Myriel.
Last year Christina Nguyen took home the award for Best Chef: Midwest for her work at Hai Hai. It was a major comeback for the local culinary scene; in 2022, no Minnesota chefs were recognized in the final list for the category. Fellow Minneapolis chef Ann Ahmed also was a finalist in the category.
Past local winners include former La Belle Vie chef Tim McKee’s win in 2009, Alex Roberts (Restaurant Alma) in 2010, Isaac Becker (112 Eatery) in 2011, Paul Berglund (formerly of the Bachelor Farmer) in 2016, Gavin Kaysen (Spoon and Stable) in 2018 and Ann Kim (Young Joni) in 2019.
Kaysen is Minnesota’s only national James Beard Award-winning chef; he was named Rising Star Chef of the Year in 2008 during his tenure at Café Boulud in New York City. In 2022, Owamni brought home the national honor of Best New Restaurant; Gustavo and Kate Romero’s Oro by Nixta was a finalist in the same category last year.
Today’s semifinalist list will be trimmed further in April, when the James Beard Foundation releases its list of nominees. Established in 1990, the James Beard Awards are often described as the Oscars of the food world. The 2025 awards ceremony will take place in Chicago on June 9.
For a complete list of the semifinalists, go to jamesbeard.org
This is a developing story that will be updated.
Local chefs and restaurants have a stellar showing in both national and regional categories.
