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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 Stable 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.

The James Beard Awards are among the restaurant industry’s most prestigious honors. 

Mateo Mackbee, chef at New Orleans-style Krewe in St. Joseph, has been a chef for 15 years and didn’t think he would make the list in his “wildest dreams.” 

“I was in shock,” Mackbee said. “It's very humbling to have industry people recognize you for what you do. And it just, just kind of validates why I spend so many hours in here every day.” 

It's a sentiment Diane Moua also shares. Her Hmong American restaurant, Diane’s Place, serves Southeast Asian French Hmong-inspired dishes for brunch in the daytime. For dinner, their dishes include comfort food like duck stew and ginger pulled pork. 

She says she picked her location in Northeast Minneapolis for her love of everything it offers. 

“Minnesota’s food scene, to be exact. You know, you can go East Coast, West Coast, you come back. And the ethnicity, range of food we have here is amazing. And I'm really happy that I can introduce Hmong food to Minneapolis, to Minnesota,” Moua said. 

Moua says he dishes are inspired by the Hmong community. 

“The menu is curated by, you know, when we go to any Hmong events. What do you see? So trying to stay as true as we can,” Moua says. 

For Mackbee, his favorite dish on the menu is red beans and rice, but his second favorite, Gumbo, comes close, especially because of the memories it carries.  

“That's one that I most associated with my grandfather, big pots on the stoves down in his house in New Orleans, and being able to watch him get all the ingredients together and create that dish was something that I'll never forget,” Mackbee said.

Outstanding Restaurant presented by Acqua Panna Natural Spring Water

Outstanding Hospitality presented by American Airlines

Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program

Correction (Jan. 23, 2025): The name of Spoon and Stable was misspelled in a previous version of this story. It has been updated.

Anika Besst

Author

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

11 Minnesota chefs and restaurants named 2025 James Beard Award semifinalists

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