The James Beard Foundation announced the semifinalists for its 36th annual food awards today, and the list is full of New York City restaurants and chefs.

The longlist includes Sunny Lee of Korean wine bar Sunn’s in Chinatown and Rasheeda Purdie of the recently opened restaurant Ramen by Ra in the East Village under the Emerging Chef category. The Outstanding Restaurant category includes two sides of NYC Italian restaurants: the Four Horsemen in Williamsburg and West Village’s Via Carota. Best New Restaurant slot includes two of Eater’s best new restaurants of 2025: Cambodian restaurant Bong in Crown Heights and Caribbean prix fixe Kabawa in the East Village, as well as Chinese American wine bar Lei in Chinatown (whose owner Annie Shi won the Sommelier Award in Michelin’s Northeast ceremony last November). For the Outstanding Hospitality category, there’s Mexican restaurant Cosme in Flatiron, Red Hook Tavern, and Prospect Heights Persian restaurant Sofreh.

There are two NYC semifinalists in the Outstanding Restaurateur: Simon Kim of the luxe empire, including Cote (which just opened in Vegas) and Coqodaq, plus an upcoming spot this year; and Jennifer Vitagliano and Nicole Vitagliano of restaurants like the Musket Room, Cafe Zaffri, and Raf’s.

The Best Chef: New York State category is stacked with NYC chefs such as Sadie Mae Burns and Anthony Ha of Vietnamese French restaurant Ha’s Snack Bar on the Lower East Side, Joshua Pinsky of Claud, Vikas Khanna of Bunaglow, Rafiq Salim of Rolo’s, and many others. Outstanding Chef includes Gabriel Kruether of his namesake restaurant, D.C. chef Kwame Onwuachi of Tatiana at Lincoln Center, and Missy Robbins of Lilia in Williamsburg.

As for the rest of the state of New York, Finger Lakes fine-dining restaurant F.L.X. Table was nominated in the Outstanding Wine and Other Program category. Then, under the Best Chef: New York State category, there’s Efrén Hernández of Leeds Mexican restaurant Casa Susanna and Corwin Kave of hotel restaurant Deer Mountain Inn in Tannersville. Scope out the full list below.

Then, for our west-of-us neighbors in New Jersey, the Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic category includes Russ Cowan of Jewish deli Radin’s Delicatessen in Cherry Hill and David Viana of Italian restaurant Judy and Harry’s in Asbury Park.

In 2025, the NYC James Beard Awards winners included chef Vijay Kumar of South Indian restaurant Semma in Greenwich Village for Best Chef: New York State; Jungsik Yim of Korean restaurant Jungsik in Tribeca (Outstanding Chef); Ignacio “Nacho” Jimenez of Mexican cocktail bar Superbueno in the East Village (Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service Award); Korean tasting menu restaurant Atomix in Nomad (Outstanding Hospitality Award); and Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr of various NYC restaurant such as Frenchette and the revitalized Le Veau d’Or (Outstanding Restaurateur Award).

Best Chef: New York State

• Fariyal Abdullahi, Hav & Mar, Chelsea
• Christophe Bellanca, Essential by Christophe, Upper West Side
• Sadie Mae Burns and Anthony Ha, Ha’s Snack Bar, Lower East Side
• Fidel Caballero, Corima, Chinatown
• Giovanni Cervantes, Carnitas Ramirez, East Village
• Aretah Ettarh, Gramercy Tavern, Flatiron
• Efrén Hernández, Casa Susanna, Leeds, New York
• Corwin Kave, Deer Mountain Inn, Tannersville, New York
• Vikas Khanna, Bungalow, East Village
• Hooni Kim, Meju, Long Island City
• Yvan Lemoine, Tourmaline, Forest Hills
• Nate Limwong, Chalong, Hell’s Kitchen
• Cheng Lin, Shōta Omakase, Williamsburg
• Buddha Lo, Huso, Tribeca
• Angie Mar, Le B, West Village
• Ayesha Nurdjaja, Shukette, Chelsea
• Joshua Pinsky, Claud, East Village
• Mads Refslund, Ilis, Greenpoint

Outstanding Restaurateur

• Simon Kim, Gracious Hospitality (Cote, Undercote, and Coqodaq), NYC
• Jennifer Vitagliano and Nicole Vitagliano, Elizabeth Street Hospitality (The Musket Room, Raf’s, and Cafe Zaffri), NYC

Outstanding Chef

• Gabriel Kreuther, Gabriel Kreuther, New York, NY
• Kwame Onwuachi, Tatiana, New York, NY
• Missy Robbins, Lilia, Brooklyn, NY

Outstanding Restaurant

• The Four Horsemen, Brooklyn, NY
• Via Carota, New York, NY

Emerging Chef

• Sunny Lee, Sunn’s, New York, NY
• Rasheeda Purdie, Ramen by Rā, New York, NY

Best New Restaurant

• Bong, New York, NY
• Kabawa, New York, NY
• Lei, New York, NY

Outstanding Bakery

• Bánh by Lauren, New York, NY

• Librae, New York, NY

Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker

• Renata Ameni, Birdee, Brooklyn, NY
• Eunji Lee, Lysée, New York, NY

Outstanding Hospitality

• Cosme, New York, NY
• Red Hook Tavern, Brooklyn, NY
• Sofreh, Brooklyn, NY

Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program

• Chambers, New York, NY

Outstanding Bar

• Aldo Sohm Wine Bar, New York, NY

• Double Chicken Please, New York, NY

Best New Bar

• Bar Snack, New York, NY
• Clemente Bar, New York, NY

Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service

• Lee Campbell, Borgo, New York, NY
• Amy Racine, La Marchande, New York, NY

Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service

• Ivy Mix, Whoopsie Daisy, Brooklyn, NY

James Beard’s finalist list will be announced on Tuesday, March 31; the awards ceremony with the winners is happening on Monday, June 15, in Chicago again.

Disclosure: Some Vox Media staff members are part of the voting body for the James Beard Foundation Awards.