San Francisco chefs, restaurants just made the finals. Stuart Brioza, Nicole Krasinski are among James Beard finalists. S.F.'s Saison, Mijoté chefs are also vying for James Beard Best Chef award in California.

The James Beard Foundation on Wednesday winnowed its list of 2025 award semifinalists down to the finalists, with five Bay Area contenders remaining in the hunt for the prestigious culinary awards. The winners will be announced June 16 at a live Chicago ceremony.

Several California chefs and restaurants are in the spotlight as the 2025 James Beard Award nominees were recently released.

The finalists for the 2025 James Beard Foundation awards, often referred to as the Oscars of the food world, were released Wednesday morning, with a handful from San Francisco still in the running. Leading the pack were San Francisco chef-owners Stuart Brioza and Nicole Krasinski of Anchovy Bar,

For the second year in a row, the Animae executive chef has made it through to the final round of the James Beard Awards

Nominees include Jon Yao of Kato and Daniel Castillo of Heritage Barbecue. Castillo hopes the nomination will shed more light on Orange County and barbecue.

Kayla Stewart is a James Beard Award-winning food and travel journalist, cookbook author, and Senior Editor at Eater. Her work has been featured in Food & Wine, The New York Times, Travel + Leisure, Saveur, and others.

A San Diego chef was among the culinary artisans nominated Wednesday for a coveted James Beard Award for top chef in California.