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A Portland Bakery Picked Up the Food World's Biggest Prize
The 2025 James Beard Award winners were announced on Monday, June 16, and Portland picked up some hardware, as usual.
Portland's big winners were Kyurim 'Q' Lee and Jin Caldwell's JinJu Patisserie, which won the award for Outstanding Bakery. It's national recognition for a bakery that already has an enormous amount of local acclaim. Lee and Caldwell were both born in Korea and trained in Las Vegas before they fell in love and moved to Portland. When they opened up their bakery in 2019 they earned immediate accolades for their huge, flaky photogenic croissants and elegant bonbons; Willamette Week singled out their gianduja kouign amann as something that helped the city get through 2020. The two bakers accepted the award onstage at the ceremony in Chicago and thanked the Portland community and their staff. At one point, Lee turned to Caldwell, clutched her hand, and said, 'We did it.'
Eater Portland caught up with the couple afterward and asked how they would be celebrating. For one thing they'd be meeting up with the other bakers and pastry chefs floating around the proceedings and exchanging info. But Lee also had another agenda: 'Drinking all night.'
Another Oregon finalist had a big win, with Timothy Wastell of the Antica Terra winery in Amity taking home the medal for the Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific category. (The other Oregon nominees in the category were Joshua Dorcak of MÄS in Ashland and Ryan Roadhouse of Nodoguro in Portland.) Antica Terra is famous for its playful but sophisticated wines and complex tasting menus that go way beyond what is typically offered at a winery. During his acceptance speech he paid tribute to beloved Portland chef Naomi Pomeroy, who died last year, and said 'fuck ICE,' which was something of a motif during the ceremony.
The other Portland James Beard nominees were Scotch Lodge, which was up for Outstanding Bar, and Coquine, nominated for Outstanding Restaurant. For a full list of the winners, go here.
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:
