NYC Restaurants Score Five 2025 James Beard Awards
Best Chef: New York State Award went to chef Vijay Kumar of Semma — one of the most renowned restaurants among those under the Unapologetic Foods umbrella from chef Chintan Pandya and Roni Mazumdar. The accolade follows Semma landing a Michelin star, the only NYC Indian restaurant to have one at the moment, as well as its number one ranking on the New York Times 100 Best Restaurants in New York City earlier this month. South Indian-leaning Semma opened in Greenwich Village in 2021 and landed the medal three years after Pandya's Best Chef: New York State James Beard in 2022.
'When I started cooking, I never thought a kid like me from Tamil Nadu could make it to a room like this,' said Kumar in his acceptance speech. 'But the food I grew up with — food made with care and fire, with soul — is now taking the main stage. There's no such thing as poor people's food or rich people's food. If it's true, it's powerful. The real luxury is to be able to connect with each other around a table.'
Kumar joined New York finalists such as Nasim Alikhani of Sofreh in Brooklyn; Ryan Fernandez of Southern Junction Barbecue in Buffalo; Eiji Ichimura of Sushi Ichimura in Tribeca; Atsushi Kono of Kono on Bowery.
Winner of Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service Award is Ignacio 'Nacho' Jimenez of Superbueno in the East Village. Superbueno 'isn't one of those places you just pop into for a quick round. Not if Ignacio 'Nacho' Jimenez, the bar's charismatic co-owner, has anything to say about it,' says Punch. His 10-or-so drink menu has honored 'various notable Mexican ingredients and dishes,' with drinks like the popular vodka-soda that's 'anything but basic.'
The two-Michelin-starred Atomix won the Outstanding Hospitality Award, the tasting menu restaurant from Junghyun 'JP' Park, and his wife, Ellia Park. The duo opened the restaurant in Nomad in 2018, which the New York Times awarded three stars the year it opened.
Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr of Frenchette, Le Veau d'Or, and Le Rock won the Outstanding Restaurateur Award. The duo has long been famous since their early days in Balthazar under restaurateur Keith McNally. More recently they have wowed diners in reviving the storied Le Veau d'Or on the Upper East Side as well as creating destination spot with the polished Le Rock in Rockefeller Center, Frenchette at the Whitney, and Tribeca neighborhood staple, Frenchette.
Jungsik Yim of Jungsik won the final award of the night for Outstanding Chef. The Korean chef opened his first New York restaurant in 2011 followed by SEA, a less formal Southeast Asian restaurant that debuted in 2024. Yim, whose restaurant earned three Michelin stars this year, has helped define Korean dining in New York, with chefs like Park of Atomix cooking under him before he opened their own restaurant. Following Yim's win, commentator Francis Lam noted that 'New York City is in the golden age of Korean dining right now.
Speaking through a translator in his acceptance speech, Yim said it seemed like yesterday that he opened his first New York City restaurant, 'but somehow, 14 years have gone by. Looking back, I really wasn't ready to open a fine dining restaurant, not even close. I had no idea what I was doing, but I did it anyways. I was young and maybe a little too brave. Maybe ignorance was a kind of courage. I had passion and that was enough to open the doors.'
This year's James Beard awards were hosted by Nyesha Arrington and Andrew Zimmern and featured red carpet coverage by Hav & Mar chef Fariyal Abdullahi; Top Chef' s Gregory Gourdet of Portland's James Beard winner, Kann, and NYC's new Maison Passerelle; writer and editor as well as host of the Splendid Table, Francis Lam; and Iron Chef judge, editor, and global food expert Nilou Motamed. Each Beard category features a winner voted on by a panel of judges. They choose among finalists whittled down from a longer list of semifinalists announced in January. The winners were revealed a ceremony held at the Lyric Opera House in Chicago and livestreamed 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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