Sacramento restaurants wholly snubbed for James Beard Awards’ semifinal list. Who’s on it?
The 2025 James Beard Awards semifinalists list was released Wednesday morning. For the first time in four years, Sacramento-area restaurants were left off.
Known as the “Oscars of the food world,” the James Beard Awards highlight the United States’ best chefs, bakers, bar programs and more, broken down by region with a few national categories.
Kru Contemporary Japanese Cuisine chef/co-owner Billy Ngo made history last year as the region’s first finalist for “Best Chef: California.” Binchoyaki’s Craig Takehara and Localis’ Chris Barnum-Dann were semifinalists for the same category in 2023 and 2022 respectively, while Paragary’s was a nationwide semifinalist for “Outstanding Restaurant” in 2022.
The 2021 awards were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, making 2020 the last awards cycle with no area nominations.
Twenty-two Bay Area restaurants and/or bars collected semifinalist nods, including 16 in San Francisco. Statewide, 46 California hospitality concepts were named semifinalists. Finalists will be announced April 2 ahead of the awards ceremony in Chicago on June 16.