For those who aren’t familiar with the James Beard Awards, they are ostensibly like the Oscars for the stars of the food and drink scene in the United States.
Winning a James Beard award, or even simply being nominated, can truly change someone’s life, catapulting them onto the national stage with one of the most distinguished accolades in the nation’s food and drink scene.
Every year, the James Beard Foundation conducts these awards, first releasing a list of semifinalists in January, cutting that list down to a group of finalists in April, and then finally, from those finalists, a winner is selected in each category in June!
This year marks the 35th anniversary of the James Beard Awards, and Washington, D.C., has been well represented, with five finalists representing the District as semifinalists across four unique categories.
Washington, D.C.’s 2025 James Beard Awards Finalists
Here are all of the 2025 James Beard Award finalists from Washington, D.C. broken down by category:
Outstanding Restaurateur
- Scott Drewno and Danny Lee – The Fried Rice Collective (Anju, Chiko, and I Egg You)
Best New Restaurant
- Mita
Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker
- Susan Bae – Moon Rabbit
Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic (DC, DE, MD, NJ, PA, VA)
- Carlos Delgado – Causa and Amazonia
- Henji Cheung – Queen’s English
Notable takeaways
While the D.C. food scene has won the “Outstanding Chef” category for the past two years in a row, unfortunately, the District does not have a finalist in this category, meaning that for the first time in a few years, we don’t have the best chef in the nation.
While Amy Brandwein, head chef at Centrolina, did make it as a semifinalist, she has unfortunately been dropped from contention and was not named a finalist.