Nearly 20 L.A. and Orange County chefs and restaurants are 2025 James Beard Awards semifinalists
This morning some of the country’s top chefs, restaurants and beverage professionals garnered industry-wide recognition with the announcement of the 2025 James Beard Award’s semifinalists. The annual awards ceremony — widely regarded as some of the most prestigious accolades in the culinary field — celebrate a range of hospitality roles and businesses. This year, nearly 20 semifinalists in L.A. and Orange County are in the running.
Wednesday morning’s announcement marks the first in a series leading up to the final awards ceremony, which will be held June 16 in Chicago. The nominees, chosen from this list of semifinalists, will be announced in April.
Today L.A.-area chefs saw recognition in nearly every category, and in 2025 roughly one-third of the state’s contenders for best chef are cooking in Los Angeles. Last year, Kuya Lord chef-owner Lord Maynard Llera was named the best chef in California; in 2023, Justin Pichetrungsi of Anajak Thai was awarded the title.
Evan Algorri of Melrose Hill Italian restaurant Etra received his first Beard Foundation nod this morning in the best chef: California category. For Algorri, the James Beard Foundation and its culinary awards directly influenced his career: The young chef, still in culinary school, donned his finest and attended the 2010 awards ceremony — upon seeing Marea win best new restaurant, he decided that was his future. After years in Marea’s kitchen, he flew to Los Angeles to open Etra, his own Italian restaurant, where he's executive chef and partner.
“It's nuts,” Algorri said of the news. “It's a little overwhelming. And it's really appreciated at a time when things are very difficult for restaurants. It's a little bit of a silver lining, it’s generally an all-around warm feeling.”
Other new semifinalists in the category include Baroo’s Kwang Uh, though a previous version of Baroo was a semifinalist for the 2016 best new restaurant; Kato’s Jon Yao, who was a rising star chef of the year semifinalist or nominee in 2018, 2019 and 2020; and Camélia’s Charles Namba, whose Echo Park sake bar Ototo took home the award for outstanding wine and other beverages program in 2023.
Read more: Baroo, innovator of Korean dining, is The Times’ 2024 Restaurant of the Year
Barra Santos’ Melissa López is also new to the category this year, though the Cypress Park Portuguese wine bar and restaurant earned a semifinalist nod for best new restaurant last year. Amiga Amore’s Danielle Duran-Zecca was, along with her husband and co-chef Alessandro Zecca, a semifinalist in the emerging chef category last year, but in 2025 only Duran-Zecca is a semifinalist.
Evil Cooks’ husband-and-wife chef-owners Alex and Elvia Garcia are contenders for best chef: California; they were semifinalists in the category last year, and recently debuted their bricks-and-mortar taqueria in El Sereno.
In Orange County, Daniel Castillo of Heritage Barbecue in San Juan Capistrano — a frequent L.A. Times 101 List awardee and popular destination for genre-bending barbecue — is also a best chef: California contender. Tara Monsod of San Diego’s Animae is a returning semifinalist in the category this year; she was also a nominee last year. Farther north, Oceanside chef Roberto Alcocer of Valle crafts intricate Mexican tasting menus that earned him his first semifinalist nod.
Only one L.A.-area name is a semifinalist for outstanding chef this year: Gilberto Cetina of Historic South-Central’s Holbox, a Yucatecan beacon of fresh seafood in the Mercado la Paloma food hall and the L.A. Times Restaurant of the Year in 2023.
Across town, Dave Beran’s lauded French restaurant Pasjoli is the only Southern California semifinalist in the outstanding restaurant category.
The emerging chef division highlights up-and-coming talent, and Jesus “Chuy” Cervantes is the only Southern California semifinalist. Cervantes is chef de cuisine of Enrique Olvera’s modern Mexican restaurant Damian and its adjacent Ditroit Taqueria in the Arts District.
Cervantes said he is humbled and surprised by the news, as well as appreciative of his restaurants’ teams for their support through the years. For himself and his colleagues, it marks a time to celebrate, but also reflect.
“We work really hard at this kind of stuff,” Cervantes said. “Often for us, on the best days, it’s hard work. On the worst days, it becomes survival. So this gives you a bit of pause to look back and realize that you should be proud about the things that you're working on.”
Also in recognition of new and rising talent, one L.A. restaurant received a nod in the best new restaurant category: East Hollywood’s Bridgetown Roti, the long-anticipated Caribbean restaurant from one of the city’s best pop-ups. Chef and co-owner Rashida Holmes was a semifinalist in 2024’s emerging chef category.
Read more: Video: Bridgetown Roti's macaroni and cheese pie
“I hope that by this time next year there are more Caribbean restaurant spots popping up in Los Angeles, because I think that the market is ripe and people want to have it,” Holmes told The Times last summer. “We need more of us. L.A. is too big to not have there be more of us here, really making waves.”
Gusto Bread, in Long Beach, is again a semifinalist for outstanding bakery. The artisanal panadería that focuses on heirloom grains and local sourcing was a nominee for the award last year but lost to Zu Bakery in Portland, Maine.
Nicole Rucker, a semifinalist in 2024’s outstanding pastry chef or baker category, is once again recognized in the category. At her Culver City cafe and Grand Central Market stall, Fat & Flour, she specializes in pies, cookies and brownies, with many sweets spotlighting seasonal fruits. Rucker was also previously nominated in the foundation’s media awards for her 2019 cookbook “Dappled.”
République, Mid-City’s celebrated day-to-night French cafe, bakery and restaurant from chef-owners Walter and Margarita Manzke, is recognized in the outstanding hospitality category. In 2023, Margarita Manzke won the outstanding pastry chef or baker category after being named a semifinalist or nominee every year since 2015.
No L.A. bars or restaurants are semifinalists in the category of outstanding wine or other beverages program, though Anaheim tiki bar Strong Water is. Husband-and-wife team Robert Adamson and Ying Chang’s ambitious ode to the cocktail genre was a nominee in the same category last year, but lost to Lula Drake Wine Parlour in Columbia, S.C.
But Historic Filipinotown’s Thunderbolt — previously noted as “One to Watch” by the World’s 50 Best Bars list — earned a semifinalist nod for outstanding bar. No L.A.-area bars are semifinalists in the best new bar category though San Diego’s Roma Norte, a Mexico City-inspired cocktail den, is.
No Southern California staff are semifinalists for the category of outstanding professional in beverage service, though Tobin Shea — bar director of stalwart downtown restaurant Redbird — is a contender for outstanding professional in cocktail service.
No Southern California industry members were tapped in the outstanding restaurateur category, though Daisy and Greg Ryan of the Santa Ynez Valley’s Companion Hospitality are semifinalists for their Central Coast operations at Bell's, Bar Le Côte, Priedite Barbecue and more: popular dining destinations for Angelenos.
The 2025 James Beard Foundation Awards nominees will be announced April 2, with the winners shared at the awards ceremony on June 16 at Lyric Opera of Chicago. The full list of 2025 semifinalists can be found here.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
