11 Minnesota chefs and restaurants named 2025 James Beard Award semifinalists

Eleven Minnesota chefs and restaurants were named James Beard Award semifinalists for 2025. The list includes five Minnesota chefs named as a semifinalist for Best Chef in the Midwest category and one Minneapolis chef, Ann Ahmed, named Outstanding Chef.

Ahmed’s restaurant Khâluna serves Laotian cuisine.

Other awards include Spoon and Table being named an Outstanding Restaurant and two Minneapolis restaurants named as Best New Restaurants: Bûcheron and Vinai.

Other Midwest winners include Fargo’s Nikki Berglund and Ryan Nitschke of Luna Fargo, Sol Ave. Kitchen, Nova Eatery and others have been named Outstanding Restaurateur.

Sioux Falls chef Marcela Salas was named an Emerging Chef at BibiSol.

Outstanding Chef presented by Hilton

  • Ann Ahmed, Khâluna, Minneapolis

Best Chef: Midwest

  • Shigeyuki Furukawa, Kado no Mise, Minneapolis

  • Abraham Gessesse, Hyacinth, St. Paul

  • Mateo Mackbee, Krewe, St. Joseph

  • Diane Moua, Diane’s Place, Minneapolis

  • Karyn Tomlinson, Myriel, St. Paul

Best New Restaurant

  • Bûcheron, Minneapolis

  • Vinai, Minneapolis

    Interior of a restaurant
    Vinai opened late July in northeast Minneapolis. Chef Yia Vang began developing the concept in 2019.
    Courtesy Lauren Cutshall

Outstanding Restaurant presented by Acqua Panna Natural Spring Water

  • Spoon and Stable, Minneapolis

Outstanding Hospitality presented by American Airlines

  • Mucci’s, St. Paul

Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program

  • Bar Brava, Minneapolis

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