Some bright news on a frigid, blustery day: The 2025 James Beard Award nominations are out, celebrating the very best chefs and restaurants in America. This is the semi-finalist level, and there are some very familiar names here.
First, scoring a nomination in the category of Outstanding Chef is Amilinda’s Gregory León. León was nominated in the same category last year. In both 2022 and 2023, he advanced to the finalist level in the category of Best Chef: Midwest.
Tell us who you’d pick to be a Betty this year!
In this year’s Best Chef: Midwest category, we have five Milwaukee chefs (all repeat nominees) and one from Madison. They are:
- Dan “Top Chef” Jacobs and Dan Van Rite, of EsterEv
- Kyle Knall, of Birch
- Ross Bachhuber and Sam Ek, of Odd Duck
- Jamie Brown-Soukaseume and Chuckie Brown-Soukaseume, of Ahan in Madison
The other exciting news is our nominations in the bar categories. Bryant’s Cocktail Lounge is up for Outstanding Bar. And Agency – a fully hybrid cocktail bar located inside the Dubbel Dutch Hotel – is nominated for Best New Bar.
The list of finalists will be announced on Wednesday, April 2, and the winners will be revealed at the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards ceremony on Monday, June 16 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Solid representation all around. Congrats to all!
