Here Is Austin, Texas's 2025 James Beard Award Winner
The James Beard Foundation Awards were held tonight, June 16, and Austin, Texas walked away with one big winner. Arjav Ezekiel, beverage director and co-owner of Birdie's in East Austin, won the Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service award. Ezekiel was born in New Delhi, India, and moved with his family to Portland, Oregon when he was 12 years old, where he gained foundational hospitality knowledge from his father, who worked in hotels. After stints working at restaurants in Washington, D.C., and New York, he eventually relocated to Austin and opened Birdie's with his wife and business partner Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel, who serves as Birdie's chef and co-owner. The wine program at Birdie's has been recognized in national food publications, including on Eater Austin, when Birdie's won an Eater Award for Best New Neighborhood Wine Bar in 2021.
In January 2025, the James Beard Foundation recognized six Austin chefs and restaurants on its semifinalists list, while San Antonio earned seven nods, largely in the Best Chef: Texas category. On April 2, the foundation revealed its finalists: In the Best Chef: Texas category, Emil Oliva of San Antonio's Leche de Tigre and Michael Anthony Serva of Marfa, Texas's Bordo each received nods; the award ended up going to Thomas Bille of Belly of the Beast in Spring, Texas. Other finalists included Mixtli in San Antonio in the Outstanding Hospitality category; Atomix, a restaurant in New York City, took home that honor.
The James Beard Awards, often considered 'the Oscars of food,' are among the most prestigious awards in the food and hospitality industry. Each year, the James Beard Foundation restaurants, bars, and hospitality professionals in categories like Outstanding Restaurant, Best Chef, and Best New Chef. This year's awards added three brand-new categories: Best New Bar, Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service, and Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service.
The first James Beard Awards ceremony was held in 1991, when chefs like Rick Bayless, Nancy Silverton, and Wolfgang Puck walked away as winners. In recent years, the foundation has been under increased scrutiny after canceling its programming in 2020 and 2021 due to misbehavior and abuse allegations against nominated chefs, and a lack of nominated and winning Black chefs among the categories. In response, the James Beard Foundation conducted an internal audit to make its voting processes more inclusive and equitable before returning in 2022. The awards have also shifted the Best Chef category to a regional model to better recognize the diversity and depth of talent.
Here are the 2025 James Beard Foundation awards winners for Austin:Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service: Arjav Ezekiel of Birdie's in Austin
Get the full list of James Beard Award winners from across the country on Eater.
Disclosure: Some Vox Media staff members are part of the voting body for the James Beard Awards. Eater is partnering with the James Beard Foundation to livestream the awards in 2025. All editorial content is produced independently of the James Beard Foundation. See More:
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The nonprofit James Beard Foundation was established in 1986, shortly after chef and TV personality James Beard's death. The first awards ceremony was held in 1991. Outstanding Restaurateur Stuart Brioza and Nicole Krasinski, Atomic Workshop (The Anchovy Bar, State Bird Provisions, and The Progress), San Francisco, CA Sue Chin and Jason Chin, Good Salt Restaurant Group (Seito Sushi, Reyes Mezcaleria, The Osprey, and others), Orlando, FL Scott Drewno and Danny Lee, The Fried Rice Collective (Anju, Chiko, and I Egg You), Washington, D.C. 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Ômo by Jônt, Winter Park, FL Penny, New York, NY The Union, Helena, MT Outstanding Bakery Atelier Ortega, Jackson Hole, WY Gusto Bread, Long Beach, CA WINNER: JinJu Patisserie, Portland, OR Starship Bagel, Dallas and Lewisville, TX Super Secret Ice Cream, Bethlehem, NH Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker Susan Bae, Moon Rabbit, Washington, D.C. WINNER: Cat Cox, Country Bird Bakery, Tulsa, OK April Franqueza, The Dining Room at High Hampton, Cashiers, NC Crystal Kass, Valentine, Phoenix, AZ Carolyn Nugent and Alen Ramos, Poulette Bakeshop, Parker, CO Outstanding Hospitality Archipelago, Seattle, WA Aria, Atlanta, GA WINNER: Atomix, New York, NY Harbor House Inn, Elk, CA Mixtli, San Antonio, TX Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program Bar Brava, Minneapolis, MN Campo at Los Poblanos, Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, NM WINNER: Charleston, Baltimore, MD MARCH, Houston, TX Strong Water, Anaheim, CA Outstanding Bar WINNER: Kumiko, Chicago, IL Scotch Lodge, Portland, OR The Lovers Bar at Friday Saturday Sunday, Philadelphia, PA Water Witch, Salt Lake City, UT Wolf Tree, White River Junction, VT Best New Bar Agency, Milwaukee, WI Bar Colette, Dallas, TX WINNER: Identidad Cocktail Bar, San Juan, PR Merai, Brookline, MA ViceVersa, Miami, FL Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service Jacob Brown, Lazy Bear, San Francisco, CA Jose Medina Camacho, Adiõs, Birmingham, AL WINNER: Arjav Ezekiel, Birdie's, Austin, TX Cassandra Felix, Daniel, New York, NY Cristie Norman, Delilah, Las Vegas, NV Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service McLain Hedges and Mary Allison Wright, Yacht Club, Denver, CO WINNER: Ignacio 'Nacho' Jimenez, Superbueno, New York, NY Dave Newman, Pint + Jigger, Honolulu, HI Tobin Shea, Redbird, Los Angeles, CA Mike Stankovich, Longfellow, Cincinnati, OH Best Chef: California Daniel Castillo, Heritage Barbecue, San Juan Capistrano, CA Richard Lee, Saison, San Francisco, CA Tara Monsod, ANIMAE, San Diego, CA Kosuke Tada, Mijoté, San Francisco, CA WINNER: Jon Yao, Kato, Los Angeles, CA Best Chef: Great Lakes (IL, IN, MI, OH) Jennifer Blakeslee and Eric Patterson, The Cooks' House, Traverse City, MI Thai Dang, HaiSous, Chicago, IL David Jackman, Wildweed, Cincinnati, OH Chris Jung and Erling Wu-Bower, Maxwells Trading, Chicago, IL WINNER: Noah Sandoval, Oriole, Chicago, IL Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic (DC, DE, MD, NJ, PA, VA) Henji Cheung, Queen's English, Washington, D.C. WINNER: Carlos Delgado, Causa and Amazonia, Washington, D.C. Jesse Ito, Royal Sushi & Izakaya, Philadelphia, PA Dan Richer, Razza, Jersey City, NJ Amanda Shulman, Her Place Supper Club, Philadelphia, PA Best Chef: Midwest (IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD, WI) Shigeyuki Furukawa, Kado no Mise, Minneapolis, MN Diane Moua, Diane's Place, Minneapolis, MN Loryn Nalic, Balkan Treat Box, Webster Groves, MO WINNER: Karyn Tomlinson, Myriel, St. Paul, MN David Utterback, Ota and Yoshitomo, Omaha, NE Best Chef: Mountain (CO, ID, MT, UT, WY) Joshua Adams, Campione, Livingston, MT WINNER: Salvador Alamilla, Amano, Caldwell, ID Brandon Cunningham, The Social Haus, Greenough, MT David Wells, The Tasting Room at Chico Hot Springs Resort & Day Spa, Pray, MT Penelope Wong, Yuan Wonton, Denver, CO Best Chef: New York State Nasim Alikhani, Sofreh, Brooklyn, NY Ryan Fernandez, Southern Junction Barbecue, Buffalo, NY Eiji Ichimura, Sushi Ichimura, New York, NY Atsushi Kono, Kono, New York, NY WINNER: Vijay Kumar, Semma, New York, NY Best Chef: Northeast (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT) Avery Buck, May Day, Burlington, VT WINNER: Sky Haneul Kim, Gift Horse, Providence, RI Brian Lewis, The Cottage, Westport, CT Erin Miller, Urban Hearth, Cambridge, MA Derek Wagner, Nicks on Broadway, Providence, RI Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific (AK, HI, OR, WA) Jay Blackinton, Houlme, Orcas Island, WA Joshua Dorcak, MÄS, Ashland, OR Ryan Roadhouse, Nodoguro, Portland, OR Beau Schooler, In Bocca Al Lupo, Juneau, AK WINNER: Timothy Wastell, Antica Terra, Amity, OR Best Chef: South (AL, AR, FL, LA, MS, PR) WINNER: Nando Chang, Itamae AO, Miami, FL Matthew Cooper, Conifer, Bentonville, AR Kevin Garcia, La Faena AgroCocina, Guaynabo, PR Angel David Moreno Zayas, El Gallo Pinto, Guayama, PR Rafael Rios, Yeyo's El Alma de Mexico, Bentonville, AR Best Chef: Southeast (GA, KY, NC, SC, TN, WV) Noam Bilitzer, MeeshMeesh Mediterranean, Louisville, KY Sara Bradley, freight house, Paducah, KY WINNER: Jake Howell, Peninsula, Nashville, TN Silver Iocovozzi, Neng Jr.'s, Asheville, NC Robbie Robinson, City Limits Barbeque, West Columbia, SC Best Chef: Southwest (AZ, NM, NV, OK) Olivier Bouzerand, Fait Maison, Edmond, OK WINNER: Yotaka Martin, Lom Wong, Phoenix, AZ Sarah Thompson, Casa Playa, Las Vegas, NV Eleazar Villanueva, Restaurant de Joël Robuchon, Las Vegas, NV Zack Walters, Sedalia's Oyster & Seafood, Oklahoma City, OK Best Chef: Texas WINNER: Thomas Bille, Belly of the Beast, Spring, TX Emmanuel Chavez, Tatemó, Houston, TX Emil Oliva, Leche de Tigre, San Antonio, TX Regino Rojas, Purépecha, Dallas, TX Michael Anthony Serva, Bordo, Marfa, TX
