Five L.A. and O.C. chefs and restaurants nominated for 2025 James Beard Foundation Awards
On Wednesday morning the James Beard Foundation announced the chefs, beverage programs, restaurants and bars nominated for its 2025 culinary awards — vastly scaling back the number of Los Angeles-area names previously in the running.
In January the James Beard Foundation recognized nearly 20 L.A.-area restaurants, chefs and others as semifinalists. As of this morning, only five from L.A. and Orange County will proceed as nominees.
Each year the James Beard Foundation Awards recognize individuals, businesses and programs in the dining and hospitality industry; the accolades are widely regarded as some of the country's most prestigious in the culinary world. This year's winners will be announced in a ceremony held June 16 at Lyric Opera of Chicago.
L.A.-area chefs have been on a roll in the category of best chef: California. Last year Kuya Lord chef-owner Lord Maynard Llera won the honor, and in 2023, Justin Pichetrungsi of Anajak Thai was awarded the title. This year's nominees include two chefs named on the L.A. Times 2024 101 Best Restaurants guide: Jon Yao and Daniel Castillo.
Yao serves a celebrated tasting menu informed by his Taiwanese heritage. Not only did his Arts District restaurant, Kato, land in the No. 1 spot on the L.A. Times' list of top restaurants two years in a row, it also garnered a Michelin star and placement in the World's 50 Best Restaurants.
Yao was a semifinalist or nominee in the rising star chef of the year category in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
Castillo helms Heritage Barbecue in San Juan Capistrano, where some of the most tender brisket, creative smoked sausages and genre-bending, cross-cultural specials can regularly be found. This is the first James Beard nomination (or semifinalist nod) for Castillo and Heritage.
Castillo said he's celebrating the win as a team effort, and that he hopes the nomination will shed more light on Orange County and its culinary community — as well as barbecue as a whole.
'The light has been shown on the amount of work that goes into being able to operate a barbecue restaurant,' Castillo said. 'It's a marathon and it's a lot of hard work, it's a lot of dedication. It's no different than having a chef working in a fine-dining restaurant: Consistency is important. Above all else, you're working with live fire versus a switch in a kitchen that you can turn up and down; you're working with something that's wild and that takes a lot of patience. It takes a lot of time to master something like that.'
In San Diego, Tara Monsod is also a nominee. Monsod made waves with modern Filipino cuisine at Animae, and also leads the kitchen at sibling restaurant Le Coq, a French steakhouse in La Jolla. Two San Francisco chefs are the other finalists for the state's best chef: Richard Lee of Saison and Kosuke Tada of Mijoté.
Gusto Bread in Long Beach returns as a nominee in the category of outstanding bakery; the artisanal panadería from owners Arturo Enciso and Ana Belén Salatino began as a homespun operation but blossomed into a full-fledged bakery focusing on heirloom grains and local, seasonal sourcing.
Anaheim's Strong Water was also a nominee in its category last year. The ambitious tiki destination from husband-and-wife duo Robert Adamson and Ying Chang is once again a contender in the category of outstanding wine or other beverages program, and one of the best tiki bars in Southern California.
Tobin Shea — bar director of Redbird — is a contender for outstanding professional in cocktail service alongside beverage colleagues in Honolulu, New York, Cincinnati and Denver.
This is Shea's first Beard nod, as well as Redbird's. At the downtown restaurant he focuses on themed menus with elevated classics, as well as a no-ABV program.
Shea, now in his 30th year bartending, distinctly remembers listening to a podcast that announced the foundation was adding a category for bar programs in 2012, finally recognizing cocktails after a long history celebrating wine.
'In my head I was like, 'God, this is the justification I need to keep on bartending,'' he said. 'My parents were always accepting of it, but they were always like, 'Are you thinking about getting a job other than bartending now?' In 2012 I just remember listening to that podcast and being like: That would be absolutely amazing to have that for my career, or just in general — something to work towards.'
Shea was a member of Redbird's opening team and has been with the stalwart restaurant for more than a decade. He considers the nomination to be in recognition of his whole bar staff, not simply himself.
Shea's 50th birthday is the week before the 2025 James Beard Foundation Awards ceremony — so he and his family might wind up celebrating both events in Chicago.
'It's going to be a great week,' he said.
The majority of L.A.'s 2025 semifinalists did not proceed to the nominations round.
In the best chef: California category, nearly half of the semifinalists stemmed from Los Angeles or Orange County. In addition to Yao, Castillo and Monsod, the foundation's semifinalists included Kwang Uh of Baroo, Alex and Elvia Garcia of Evil Cooks, Evan Algorri of Etra, Charles Namba of Camélia, Danielle Duran-Zecca of Amiga Amore, Melissa López of Barra Santos and Roberto Alcocer of Valle in Oceanside.
In national categories, Holbox's Gilberto Cetina was named as a semifinalist in the outstanding chef category, while Santa Monica's Pasjoli was a semifinalist for outstanding restaurant. Damian's Jesus 'Chuy' Cervantes was the only Southern California semifinalist up for this year's emerging chef award, and Bridgetown Roti was noted as a semifinalist in the best new restaurant grouping. République was a semifinalist for outstanding hospitality while Thunderbolt was a semifinalist in outstanding bar and Nicole Rucker was a semifinalist for outstanding pastry chef or baker.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Michael Jackson's fixation on cosmetic surgery ‘sparked by childhood humiliation at hands of his dad'
Michael Jackson's fixation on cosmetic surgery and appearance was sparked by childhood humiliation at the hands of his father, a new book claims. The singer, who was killed by a drugs overdose aged 50 in 2009, was renowned for his addiction to changing his appearance, and Michael's former lawyer John Mason has now stated in his memoir it was down to abuse of the star by his domineering dad Joe Jackson. John, who is now in his 80s, says in his book Crazy Lucky: Remarkable Stories from Inside the World of Celebrity Icons in an extract obtained by Michael told him his father 'told me I had a big nose' early in his life. The ex-attorney added: 'That was just the beginning of Michael's obsession with his looks.' John worked with the Jackson family during their transition from Motown to Epic Records in the 1970s and goes into detail in his book about the emotional and psychological toll inflicted on the young Michael. He said: 'In 1964, Michael, who was six years old and driven to sing and dance, went to work. Michael would remember years later that his father didn't praise his singing ability after that first performance or his magical moves.' That early criticism, John writes, 'planted the seeds for future plastic surgery adventures in the name of finding true 'beauty'.' Despite Michael's public insistence he had only undergone two nose surgeries, his continually changing appearance fuelled long-standing speculation over the extent of his cosmetic procedures. John described his time with the family as strained and uncomfortable, particularly due to Joe Jackson's harsh methods. 'Back in the day, Joe made all the calls,' he said – adding: 'He would sit at rehearsals with a belt in his hand in case he had to punish any mistakes or misbehaviour.' He added: 'There was never a fun moment. Joe's way of approaching people was to be intimidating. He would shake your hand and try to crush it.' Michael's death was caused by acute propofol intoxication combined with sedatives and ruled a homicide by the Los Angeles County coroner's office. His personal physician Conrad Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2011 for providing the singer with the hospital-strength tranquiliser, which Michael called his 'milk' as he said it was the only thing that helped him sleep.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Tim Bagley claims he couldn't audition for 'SNL 'because 'they wouldn't hire openly gay people'
Tim Bagley says any dream of his to join the Saturday Night Live cast was crushed early on. During a recent appearance on SiriusXM's The Julia Cunningham Show, the 67-year-old comedic actor claimed that despite having a promising start as part of the Groundlings — an improvisational and sketch comedy troupe that launched the careers of many SNL stars — in 1989, he couldn't audition for the sketch comedy series because he was out as a gay man. "I was out as a gay man and people knew that they would not hire openly gay people," Bagley alleged about SNL boss Lorne Michaels and late manager Bernie Brillstein. "[They] had kind of a thing where they did not hire gay people, so I never got to audition," the Somebody Somewhere star continued. "All my friends did, and I was always kind of a standout at the Groundlings, but I was out. That [was] the problem with being out back then was there were no guardrails. I mean, if somebody didn't want to have you on their show, they just [didn't have to]. They weren't trying to seek out LGBTQ people back then." As it happens, Bagley is not the first person to accuse SNL and Michaels of having issues with hiring openly queer people during the peak of the show's popularity. Comedian James Adomian told the Daily Beast in 2018 that he thinks being openly gay kept him from getting a spot on the cast, though he did get to audition several times in the early 2000s. "It certainly didn't help that I was openly gay," Adomian said. "I think that Lorne Michaels is afraid of America's dads." Still, Bagley — who has proven his comedic chops with guest appearances on shows like Will & Grace, Seinfeld, and Curb Your Enthusiasm — noted that SNL has boasted its LGBTQ+ representation over the years, especially with cast members such as Kate McKinnon and Bowen Yang becoming prominent figures on the show. "It's taken quite a long time... he was the actual first conscious, you know, gay person hired," Bagley claimed. "It's taken a long time, but the SNL machine has kind of changed or shifted, and I know that there are people that have come out since." SNL's first openly gay cast member was actually Terry Sweeney, who Michaels brought onto the season 11 cast when he returned as executive producer to the show after a five-year hiatus in who had joined the cast after starring on the Logo sketch comedy series The Big Gay Sketch Show, became the first openly lesbian cast member in the history of the show when she joined in 2012. John Milhiser joined the cast as an openly gay man in 2013, followed by more LGBTQ+ cast members such as Yang, Punkie Johnson, and the show's first nonbinary performer Molly Kearney. Other LGBTQ+ cast members who were not out professionally during their time on SNL include Denny Dillon, Danitra Vance, and Sasheer Zamata. Yang started at SNL as a writer in 2018 before being promoted to cast member the next year for season 45, becoming the show's first Chinese American cast member and one of only a few out gay stars in the show's history. He's made a name for himself at the legendary sketch show with impressions of JD Vance and Fran Lebowitz, and out-of-the-box "Weekend Update" characters like the Iceberg That Sank the Titanic and viral baby pygmy hippopotamus Moo Deng. Not to mention, Yang has also scored four Emmy nominations during his time on SNL, including making history in 2021 as the first featured player to be nominated. He's also the lead of a fan-favorite sketch from last year in which the actor "reveals" himself to be a toxic straight man that the night's host fall in love with. The OG sketch featured Sydney Sweeney and the sequel, titled "Bowen's Still Straight," included Scarlett Johansson. Yang can next be seen in Wicked: For Good, coming to theaters later this year. Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
You Need to Hear the Advice Brad Pitt Would Give His Younger Self
Originally appeared on E! Online Once upon a time in Hollywood, Brad Pitt was just starting out. And while it may be hard to think of the Oscar winner as anything other than the household name he is now, back in 1987 Pitt didn't have all the answers—though he does now. If the 61-year-old could give advice to his younger self, he'd say, 'Don't sweat it, bro. Trust yourself.' 'I mean so many things that were just a waste of time, I agonized over in the early years,' Pitt shared in an exclusive interview with E! News while promoting his new film, F1. 'Really, really, just trust your voice.' It's a sentiment his costar Javier Bardem wish he could tell his younger self, too. 'Don't try so hard,' he said. 'Don't push yourself. Trust more in your instinct, in your inner voice.' (For more with the F1 crew, tune into E! News tonight, June 16 at 11p.m.) Though, Bardem knows hindsight is 20/20. More from E! Online Justin Timberlake Celebrates Father's Day With Rare Photos of His and Jessica Biel's Sons Jenna Bush Hager Gets a Dramatic Haircut While Live on Air 'Traumatized' Justin Bieber Shares Text Message Ending a Friendship 'It's easy to say now, when you are older,' the 56-year-old conceded. 'But when you are young so much is at stake. You want to prove yourself to prove others so much.' But now? They're much more comfortable with their place in the Hollywood. As Bardem explained, 'Now I think we are fine with that. Like, okay, if you like what I do, great. If you don't, I'm sorry. But when you're young it's like, 'You have to like me!'' Like them, Hollywood has also transformed. 'It's gone through so many different incarnations,' Pitt said. 'I remember when the '90s came in, it was all about the independent cinema and just getting back to, like, '70s kind of filmmaking. Then we saw in the arts, the blockbuster was emerging again, and then streamers came on and just changed everything all over again.' He continued, 'The cool thing about it is that there's just more and more people getting opportunities like these. This pool of talented people always existed, but now so many more writers, directors, editors, so on, so forth, get to do this thing. And that I like, very cool.' And one such person who recently entered the race is Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton, who appears with Javier and Brad in F1. Which, yeah, made Pitt nervous. 'Can you imagine the gall to go, 'I'm going to drive seven-time world champion around the track?' The absurdity of that?' Pitt joked. 'But I swallowed it, and it's very humbling. And he's a great human being and we just, we couldn't make this movie without his expertise.' F1 races into theaters June 27. For more exciting released happening this summer, keep reading. --Reporting by Nikaline McCarley Karate Kid: Legends - May 30, 2025The Phoenician Scheme - May 30, 2025From the World of John Wick: Ballerina - June 6, 2025I Don't Understand You - June 6, 2025Tyler Perry's Straw - June 6, 2025The Life of Chuck - June 6, 2025Something Beautiful - June 12, 2025How to Train Your Dragon - June 13, 2025Materialists - June 13, 2025Echo Valley - June 13, 2025Elio - June 20, 2025Bride Hard - June 20, 202528 Years Later - June 20, 2025F1 - June 27, 2025M3GAN 2.0 - June 27, 2025Jurassic World Rebirth - July 2, 2025The Old Guard 2 - July 2, 2025Heads of State - July 2, 2025Superman - July 11, 2025I Know What You Did Last Summer - July 18, 2025Smurfs - July 18, 2025Eddington - July 18, 2025The Fantastic Four: First Steps - July 25, 2025Happy Gilmore 2 - July 25, 2025 For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App
