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Chicago's 2025 James Beard Award Semifinalists

Daniel Hautzinger
A James Beard Award on a ribbon against a white backdrop

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The semifinalists for the 2025 James Beard Awards, an important national recognition in the food and hospitality industry often referred to as the Oscars of food, have been announced. Chicago has 22 semifinalists this year, five more than last year. Ten were in Best Chefs: Great Lakes, which is dominated by Chicagoans, while four were in this year's new categories of Best New Bar, Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service, and Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service.

Nominees will be selected from the semifinalists and announced on April 2. The awards ceremony to reveal the winners will once again take place at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, on June 16. 

Last year, Chicago ended up winning only one award from among four nominees: Outstanding Hospitality for Logan Square's beloved Lula Cafe.

Find Chicago's 2025 semifinalists below. Check back at wttw.com/food on Sunday night for the winners of Chicago's local Jean Banchet Awards for Culinary Excellence. 

Outstanding Restaurateur

Brian Jupiter and Aaron Torricelli, Pioneer Tavern Group (Frontier and Ina Mae Tavern) - Frontier specializes in full animal butchery, while Ina Mae Tavern celebrates New Orleans; both are in Wicker Park. Jupiter also opened the halal taco spot Migos Fine Foods in Portage Park last year. He appeared on an episode of WTTW's Chat, Please.

Outstanding Chef

Lee Wolen, Boka - Wolen has been a perennial contender for Best Chef: Great Lakes for years, and his Lincoln Park restaurant Boka (which has a Michelin star) was up for Outstanding Restaurant in 2020, but this is his first nod for Outstanding Chef.  

Outstanding Restaurant

Galit - This Middle Eastern restaurant in Lincoln Park has a Michelin star and won Restaurant of the Year at last year's local Chicago Jean Banchet Awards for Culinary Excellence. Its Scott Stroemer is up for Sommelier of the Year at this year's Banchets. Its chef, Zachary Engel, has a James Beard Award from a previous restaurant. 

Emerging Chef

Jacob Potashnick, Feld - A polarizing new tasting menu spot in West Town that calls itself "relationship-to-table," Feld's opening was documented by Potashnick on TikTok to lots of attention.

Best New Restaurant

Cariño - This small Mexican tasting menu restaurant in Uptown also offers a late-night taco omakase, and is up for Best New Restaurant at this year's Banchet Awards

Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker

Leigh Omilinsky, Daisies - Omilinsky was brought on at Daisies when the Italian restaurant moved to a larger space in Logan Square and began opening as an all-day cafe featuring her pastries, to great acclaim.

Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program

Elske - Anna Posey was up for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker at the Beards last year, and TC Lumbar is up for the equivalent award at the Banchets this year. The Scandinavian-inspired Elske is also up for Restaurant of the Year at the Banchets. 

Outstanding Bar

Kumiko - Kumiko spotlights Japanese spirits in an elegant setting and has been on the list of the World's 50 Best Bars thanks to the direction of Julia Momosé.

Best New Bar

Bisous - It's a good year for the French-ish Bisous, which is up for Bar of the Year at this year's Banchets and made Esquire's list of Best Bars in America. 

Truce - This is a new bar and all-day coffee shop in Bucktown from David Mor, who also leads the bar programs at nearby Mirra and Lilac Tiger. 

Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service

Thomas Kakalios, Asador Bastian - Asador Bastian is a steakhouse in an elegant townhouse in River North from Eat Well Hospitality, which also has Mano a Mano and Andros Taverna in Logan Square. It appeared on a number of best new restaurant lists both local and national.

Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service

Christopher Marty, Best Intentions - This industry favorite in Logan Square may have the feeling of a dive bar, but it's good enough to merit a Bar of the Year win at last year's Banchets

Best Chef: Great Lakes

Marcos Ascencio, Mariscos San Pedro - A new and already beloved restaurant in Thalia Hall in Pilsen, Mariscos San Pedro focuses on creative Mexican seafood dishes and is the latest spot from the team behind Le Bouchon, Obélix, and the just-closed Taqueria Chingón. That team was a semifinalist for Outstanding Restaurateur at last year's Beards, and Obélix was a nominee for a Beard Best New Restaurant in 2023. 

Thai Dang, HaiSous - Dang has been a semifinalist in this category for several years, for his Vietnamese food at HaiSous in Pilsen. 

Diana Dávila, Mi Tocaya Antojería - Dávila is a perennial contender in this category. Her Mexican restaurant in Logan Square has been popular and received nationwide acclaim for years. 

Bo Fowler, BiXi Beer - Fowler closed her British pub Owen & Engine in 2023 to great consternation, but her cooking lives on in the inventive Chinese-influenced food at her Logan Square restaurant and brewery. 

Joe Frillman, Daisies - Frillman not only serves popular Italian dishes at Daisies in Logan Square; he also works to make the restaurant as green as possible, sourcing local produce from his brother's farm, among other things. He was a semifinalist in this category last year. 

Chris Jung and Erling Wu-Bower, Maxwells Trading - Wu-Bower was up for this category numerous times when he was at the bygone Nico Osteria. Now he has his own place, where he and Jung mine their backgrounds as city kids and the children of immigrants to create clever dishes that cross cultures, particularly from East Asia. Wu-Bower spoke to us about Maxwells Trading and its Lunar New Year celebration recently, and shared a recipe. 

Lamar Moore, ETC. - Moore only just opened ETC. in the South Loop, but he has been known in Chicago for a long time, most recently as the chef at Bronzeville Winery. While there, he shared a recipe with us for shrimp ceviche. 

Noah Sandoval, Oriole - Another perennial contender in this category, Sandoval runs one of the most liked tasting menu restaurants in the city, which has kept two Michelin stars for years. 

Sujan Sarkar, Indienne - Sarkar burst onto the scene with Indienne, an Indian tasting menu spot that was on numerous best restaurant lists, has a Michelin star, and got him a nod as a Beard finalist in this category last year. 

Zeeshan Shah and Yoshi Yamada, Superkhana International - This Logan Square spot serves up fun dishes with Indian influences, like a famous butter chicken calzone.