Despite the James Beard Foundation recognizing 22 Bay Area restaurants, bars and chefs as semifinalists for the prestigious 2025 James Beard Awards in January, just four Bay Area nominees have advanced to the next round, the foundation announced in a press release on Wednesday.
Two San Francisco chefs are finalists for Best Chef in California: Richard Lee, of two-Michelin-star restaurant Saison , and Kosuke Tada, of French tasting menu restaurant Mijoté. Jacob Brown, the beverage director of two-Michelin-star Lazy Bear, is a finalist in the Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service catgory. Stuart Brioza and Nicole Krasinski, the chefs behind State Bird Provisions, the Progress and the Anchovy Bar (all under the Atomic Workshop restaurant group umbrella), are finalists in the Outstanding Restaurateur category.
There were no Bay Area finalists in the Emerging Chef, Best New Restaurant, Best New Bar, Outstanding Restaurant, Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker, Outstanding Bakery, or Outstanding Hospitality categories, although Mendocino County’s Harbor House Inn did receive a nomination for Outstanding Hospitality…