Three chefs and two restaurants from Pennsylvania were named semifinalists for the 2025 James Beard Awards, the culinary world’s equivalent of the Oscars.
The James Beard Foundation, a nonprofit culinary organization located in New York, established the awards in 1990 and has bestowed them annually since 1991, except in 2020 and 2021 when the organization scrapped them as the restaurant industry was reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Restaurants apply for the awards. Judges, who mostly remain anonymous, try the cuisine before voting. Nominees are reviewed for the food as well as for a behavioral “code of ethics,” including how employees are treated.
There are several categories a chef or restaurant can get nominated for, including Outstanding Restaurateur, Outstanding Chef, Outstanding Restaurant, Outstanding Bar, Emerging Chef, Best New Restaurant and Best Chefs by region. The awards will be held in June.
The Pennsylvania semifinalists are:
1. Phila Lorn, Mawn, Philadelphia, PA — Emerging Chef
Website: https://mawnphilly.com/
Chef Phila Lorn, who owns the restaurant Mawn with his wife Racheal Lorn, was nominated for Emerging Chef. Lorn was the first in his family to be born in the United States after his family fled war torn Cambodia, and met Racheal in 2011. Together, they opened Mawn, which means chicken in Khmer, the national language of Cambodia. The menu is full of chicken options, including fried chicken, yellow curry noodle soup with an option of chicken, and night market noodles. There is also a Puck & See dinner option, an, “Omakase-inspired dining experience where dishes from across the menu are brought to the table and explained.”
2. Fet-Fisk, Pittsburgh, PA — Best New Restaurant
Website: https://www.fetfisk.net/
Started in 2019 by owner and chef Nik Forsberg by hosting pop-up dinners and a new menu every other Monday night, Fet-Fisk opened their restaurant in March of last year. The menu features nordic seafood and an oyster bar, “with a devotion to Appalachian agriculture.” Each dish uses regional produce depending on the season, as well as substantially sourced seafood and meat. The wine and spirits sold “champions growers using natural and biodynamic practices.” In 2023, Forsberg was a semifinalist for the James Beard foundation’s Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic category.
3. The Lovers Bar at Friday Saturday Sunday, Philadelphia, PA — Outstanding Bar
Website: https://www.fridaysaturdaysunday.com/
The James Beard award winner for outstanding restaurant in 2023, Friday Saturday Sunday has again been nominated this time thanks to its The Lovers Bar. Referred to as one of Philadelphia’s most romantic bars, its bartender Paul MacDonald helps make the bar unique. Using what is called the Carousel menu, patrons spin this menu to select five different alcohols to make the cocktail, MacDonald then uses the complicated Fibonacci sequence to make the drink. In total, 42 different cocktails can be made through the Carousel menu.
4. Jesse Ito, Royal Sushi & Izakaya, Philadelphia, PA — Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic
Website: http://royalsushiandizakaya.com/
Chef Jesse Ito was born to be a chef, quite literally. His family owned the Japanese restaurant Fuji in New Jersey, where he first started as a dishwasher and prep cook, and then at 17 began to work with his dad at the sushi bar. In 2016, Ito opened Royal Sushi and Izakaya, where he is also the head chef. Ito has become very well known in the culinary world, as he has been featured in many local magazines and was also featured on Zagat’s “30 under 30”. The Izakaya menu features dishes such as Ebi Shumai, which is steamed shrimp dumplings, soy vinegar, spicy mustard, and has 16 different sushi rolls on the dine-In menu.
5. Amanda Shulman, Her Place Supper Club, Philadelphia, PA — Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic
Website: https://www.herplacephilly.com/
Chef Amanda Shulman started her cooking journey while studying journalism and political science at the University of Pennsylvania. According to Shulman, “I used to post these Facebook statuses that read, ‘$35, four courses. Message me if you want to come,’ and I would put together a group of random people who didn’t know each other, and I would just practice cooking.” Thus, the Supper Club began, which she would eventually turn into Her Place Supper Club. The restaurant still connects to Shulman’s roots. Per Her Place Supper Club’s website, the “menu changes tri-weekly, sometimes daily, sometimes a la minute. Imagine showing up to your mom’s friend’s house for dinner and just eating whatever she makes — it’s a little like that.”
To see the complete list of this year’s James Beard Awards semifinalists, visit: https://www.jamesbeard.org/stories/the-2025-james-beard-award-semifinalists.
AP reporting contributed to this article.
