Meet Michigan’s 2025 James Beard Award Semifinalists #DetroitFood
A decade-old trendsetting Detroit restaurant, a Mexican fine-dining spot with a snazzy masa program, and a cult-favorite Ferndale bakery are among this year’s contenders
A decade-old trendsetting Detroit restaurant, a Mexican fine-dining spot with a snazzy masa program, and a cult-favorite Ferndale bakery are among this year’s James Beard Award semifinalists from Michigan. The vaunted organization, named after a famed chef and author, announced on Wednesday, January 22, its long list of chef and restaurant names under consideration by the committee for the 2025 awards. Michigan has grabbed attention in several categories:
Outstanding Restaurant
- Selden Standard, Detroit, MI
Best New Restaurant
- Vecino, Detroit, MI
Outstanding Bakery
- Secret Bakery, Ferndale, MI
Outstanding Hospitality
- Baobab Fare, Detroit, MI
Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program
- Spencer, Ann Arbor, MI
Best Chef: Great Lakes
- John Yelinek, Ladder 4 Wine Bar, Detroit, MI
- Ji Hye Kim, Miss Kim, Ann Arbor, MI
- Missy Corey, Pennyroyal Cafe and Provisions, Saugatuck, MI
- Jennifer Blakeslee and Eric Patterson, The Cooks’ House, Traverse City, MI
- Javier Bardauil, Barda, Detroit, MI
Michigan, for many years maligned to the sidelines of the Beards ceremony, has clinched some key awards in the last five years. Hajime Sato of Sozai in Clawson took home the medal in the Best Chef: Great Lakes category for 2024. Warda Bouguettaya, owner of Warda Pâtisserie, won Outstanding Pastry Chef in 2022. Former Detroit Free Press critic Mark Kurlyandchik, alongside Freep video producer Brian Kaufman and senior news director for visuals Kathy Kieliszewski, received a media award in 2023 for the documentary, Coldwater Kitchen, while current Freep critic Lyndsay Green received the Emerging Voice award. Michigan chefs often face off against a robust list of Chicago semifinalists, and that’s once again true this year.
This semifinalist list reflects the restaurant and chef categories; finalists in these categories will be announced on April 2. Winners will be awarded at the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards Ceremony on Monday, June 16 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Disclosure: Some Vox Media staff members are part of the voting body for the James Beard Awards.
from Eater Detroit - All
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