Seattle’s culinary scene shines as James Beard Awards semifinalists announced

If you’ve gone out for a meal lately in Western Washington, you may have dined at a potentially award-winning restaurant or eaten a dish made by a nationally recognized chef.

On Wednesday, the James Beard Awards, or as Seattle Refined put it, the “Oscars of the culinary world,” released its semifinalists for 2025.

James Beard Awards’ outstanding restaurateur category

Quynh Pham and Yenvy Pham — who own Phở Bắc Súp Shop, Phởcific Standard Time and The Boat — are again in the running for outstanding restaurateur. The pair was also nominated last year.

According to The Seattle Times, the Phams were the first to start a phở restaurant in Seattle. You can find their businesses in the Chinatown-International District and South Lake Union neighborhoods of Seattle.

Best new restaurant category

Two Seattle restaurants are up for best new restaurant — Atoma and familyfriend.

Atoma describes itself as a “contemporary, new American restaurant,” according to its website. The Seattle Times said the business all started with the Atoma rosette cookie.

“After the Wallingford restaurant opened in November 2023, the snack-sized appetizer quickly became one of Seattle’s most lavishly praised things to eat,” Seattle Times food writer Bethany Jean Clement stated.

According to The Seattle Times, familyfriend is a “Guam-and-Pacific Islands-themed” restaurant in Seattle’s Beacon Hill. In a separate article, the media outlet called it “Seattle’s latest burger king.” The restaurant’s menu offers a plethora of burgers with sides like mac salad and truffle fries.

James Beard Awards’ outstanding bakery category

Saint Bread in Seattle lives up to its name as it was nominated for outstanding bakery. It describes itself on its website as “a bakery and community space on the Portage Bay waterfront near the University of Washington in Seattle with pastries, sandwiches, snacks and picnic tables.”

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Outstanding hospitality category

Seattle Filipino American restaurant Archipelago has been named a semifinalist for outstanding hospitality.

“Archipelago is an exploration of a region’s identity — a personal journey to reveal a wealth of resonance in our diverse community,” the restaurant’s website states.

The family-owned business invites people to enjoy the experience in their own way and discover a place “not held solely by where it sits in the world, nor the season you’ve found yourself in — but as it has always been, by the landscape of its people,” it wrote on its website.

Outstanding wine and other beverages program category

While Seattle is known for great sushi, Ltd Edition Sushi in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood juts out in the outstanding wine and other beverages program category.

The restaurant describes itself as traditional Japanese sushi and limits its orders to 32 a day “to ensure the freshest, highest grade sushi possible,” Ltd Edition Sushi’s website states.

“With an eight-person sushi bar, we have created an intimate and authentic experience similar to what you would find all over Japan,” it adds.

James Beard Awards’ best new bar category

Going out for drinks? You might want to try Sophon in Seattle’s Phinney Ridge neighborhood, nominated in the best new bar category. The Cambodian restaurant boasts a unique happy hour with “rich cultural history,” its website states.

“Sophon’s one promise is that the story in the food that we will be sharing with our community in this space is authentically our great-grandmother’s and authentically our family’s,” the restaurant wrote on its website.

Outstanding professional in beverage service category

According to Eater Seattle, in 2021, Canlis hired “renowned sommelier Linda Milagros Violago to run the restaurant’s wine service,” making Violago “the first woman in Canlis’s 71-year-old history to head up the award-winning program, which consists of seven sommeliers and around 22,000 bottles.”

Violago now has a chance to get her flowers with her nomination for outstanding professional in beverage service.

James Beard Awards’ outstanding professional in cocktail service category

Moving to cocktails, Anu Apte has been selected as a semifinalist for outstanding professional in cocktail service for her work at Rob Roy in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood.

According to Punch Drink, a media outlet focused on drinks and drinking culture, Apte is a Utah native and moved to Washington after visiting in 2004 for research graduate programs.

“A force in the Seattle drinking scene, Anu Apte-Elford describes herself as the CEO — “Chief Everything Officer” — for hospitality collective Canoe Ventures,” Punch Drink wrote. “Starting with flagship Rob Roy, now a Belltown cocktail institution, Canoe’s roster has grown to include the craft beer bar No Anchor, the tiki-centric Navy Strength and The Bar Bazaar, a cocktail supply shop near Pike Place Market.”

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Best chef in the Northwest and Pacific (AK, HI, OR, WA) category

Now, moving on to a category with a multitude of Western Washington influences, the James Beard Awards named six chefs from around our region for the best chef in the Northwest and Pacific (AK, HI, OR, WA) category.

They include Jay Blackinton, chef at Houlme in Orcas Island. According to Houlme’s website, Blackinton is no stranger to the James Beard Awards, with seven nominations, and has been named Food and Wine Magazine’s best new chef in 2017. Houlme describes itself in its Instagram bio as “a restaurant focused on quality, reverence and respect for the island we call home.”

Janet Becerra, chef at Pancita in Seattle’s Ravenna neighborhood, was also named a semifinalist. Last year, Becerra was nominated for emerging chef. Pancita is a “scratch-made Mexican concept” in Seattle, according to its website. Foodies can try one of their brisket suadero tacos with bell pepper salsa, salsa verde, white onion and cilantro.

Logan Cox has also been selected as a semifinalist. Cox is being recognized for his work creating Seattle’s Beacon Hill restaurant Homer with Sara Knowles, which was inspired by their travels to Alaska and their dog Homer, according to the restaurant’s website.

Canlis’ Aisha Ibrahim is also being recognized for her work and was named a semifinalist.

“Aisha Ibrahim, the first Filipino, first queer, and first woman to lead as head chef, is bringing her narrative to this storied restaurant,” Timid Magazine, an independent lifestyle magazine, wrote. “With a global resume that crisscrosses continents, she is writing the next delicious chapter of Canlis’ fable.”

From the Eastside, Ajay Panicker, a chef at Indian eatery Kathakali in Kirkland, has also made it to the semifinals. Seattle Times’ Providence Cicero wrote in 2018, the restaurant “opened in April and word-of-mouth is doing a fine job of filling the dining room.”

Adding, “If I lived nearby, I’d be regularly indulging in Kathakali’s dosas and curries.”

Staying on the Eastside, Jun Takai, chef at sushi restaurant Takai by Kashiba in Bellevue is also a semifinalist. The restaurant’s website shared Takai started his culinary journey working for his uncle’s fish market in Kyoto and later moved to work in Tokyo and Yokohama.

“Having achieved the highest level of support and enthusiasm of Chef Kashiba, Chef Jun brings all of his experience and vision to downtown Bellevue,” Takai by Kashiba wrote. “He sources from the abundance of local ingredients as well as directly from his longtime contacts from the Japanese fish markets.”

Although none from our region won a James Beard Award last year, hopes are high for this year’s semifinalists. Winners will be announced at the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards ceremony on June 16 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, according to the awards’ website.

Julia Dallas is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read her stories here. Follow Julia on X here and email her here.