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It is official: the James Beard Awards season is upon us. Established in 1990, the James Beard Foundation’s Restaurant and Chef Awards come together to “recognize exceptional talent and achievement in the culinary arts, hospitality, media, and broader food system.” The announcement of the semifinalist list ladders up to the awards ceremony culminating in June.
Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr of Frenchette, Le Rock and the recently reopened and revamped Le Veau d' Or received a semifinalist nod for Outstanding Restaurateur, as did Simon Kim of Gracious Hospitality Management for his various restaurants including Korean steakhouse COTE, subterranean cocktail lounge and bar, Undercote, and the ode to fried chicken and caviar, COQODAQ. Two New York chefs were recognized for Outstanding Chef, including Gabriel Kreuther of Gabriel Kreuther and Jungsik Yim of Jungsik, which was awarded three stars from the Michelin Guide for the very first time.
Under Outstanding Restaurant, two perpetually booked restaurants made the list: Angie Rito and Scott Tacinelli's Don Angie and the Williamsburg restaurant and natural wine bar, The Four Horsemen in Brooklyn. Both opening restaurants in 2024, Danny Garcia of Time & Tide and Daniel Garwood of Australian tasting menu Acru received a nomination for Emerging Chef.
Four New York restaurants made it to the Best New Restaurant category including Andrew Carmellini’s fine dining revue, Café Carmellini; the Michelin-starred Mexican tasting menu Corima; the Lower East Side’s Korean diner Kisa; and sibling restaurant to Claud (and one of our favorite new restaurants of 2024), Penny.
Camari Mick of Raf's represented New York for the Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker category, while Fan Fan Doughnuts was nominated under Outstanding Bakery. As for Outstanding Hospitality, Atomix and Melba’s received the honor, noting that Melba’s is the only restaurant in Harlem to be included in the list. As for Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages, one of the city's top steakhouses was recognized: the Hawksmoor.
And while New York didn’t receive any recognition in the Outstanding Bar Category, two New York locations received the honor for Best New Bar: Bar Contra and Sip & Guzzle. Cassandra Felix of Daniel received recognition for Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service, while Superbueno’s Ignacio Jimenez and Takuma Watanabe of Martiny’s were listed under Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service.
And because of our stellar food scene, the state of New York gets its very own category from the Foundation, namely Best Chef: New York State. Semifinalists for the category this year include Fariyal Abdullahi of Hav & Mar; Nasim Alikhani of Sofreh; Ayo Balogun of Dept of Culture; Giovanni Cervantes of Carnitas Ramirez; Chris Cipollone of Francie; Suzanne Cupps of Lola's; Clare de Boer of Stissing House; Aretah Ettarh of Gramercy Tavern; Ryan Fernandez of Southern Junction; Marcus Glocker of Koloman; Efrén Hernández of Casa Susanna; Eiji Ichimura of Ichimura; Brian Kim of Oiji Mi; Hooni Kim of Meju; Atsushi Kono of Kono; Vijay Kumar of Semma, Shaina Loew-Banayan of Café Mutton; Kwame Onwuachi of Tatiana; Hillary Sterling of Ci Siamo; and Emily Yuen of Lingo. Dan Richer of Razza in Jersey City and David Viana of Lita in Aberdeen also received a nomination for Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic.
Coming this spring, the list of nominees will be announced on April 2. Winners will be revealed at the James Beard Awards ceremony on June 16 at the Lyric Opera in Chicago.
For the full list of semifinalists, you can check them out here.