The clandestine committees comprising the James Beard Foundation have unveiled the 2025 James Beard Awards nominees.
And Brooklyn is well-represented amongst this year’s semi-finalists. Made up of critics, chefs, restauranteurs, and regular-degular diners, the national and regional panels have selected seven Brooklyn institutions, tapping into some of the borough’s hottest restaurants, chefs, bakeries, and bars.
In the “Outstanding Restaurant” category, Williamsburg’s The Four Horsemen is one of only two nominees in the entire city. For the “Outstanding Bakery” category, Bed-Stuy’s Fan Fan Doughnuts will be repping the five boroughs. And the city’s only “Outstanding Bar” nominee is Cobble Hill’s Leyenda. Brooklyn was particularly present in the “Best Chef” category for New York State, where you’ll find local favorites like Dept. of Culture‘s Ayo Balogun, Sofreh‘s Nasim Alikhani, Francie‘s Chris Cipollone, and Lingo‘s Emily Yuen contending for the honors with chefs from across the city and state.
“It’s an incredible thing of joy to be nominated by [James Beard Foundation] for the for the third year along side, the most talented chefs in New York State,” wrote Chef Ayo Balogun in a sentimental post on Instagram announcing his nomination. “And it’s also a thing of joy to call most of them my friend congratulations to all of us,” Balogun added.
The Foundation will announce this year’s finalists in the spring. The winners will be unveiled on June 16.
Explore the full list of New York area nominees via the James Beard Foundation’s site and see how many of this year’s contenders you can personally experience before they make the call this summer.
The post The 7 Brooklyn Nominees Contending for 2025 James Beard Awards appeared first on BKMAG.
