Bay Area Chefs Named 2022 James Beard Award Finalists

90 CA Restaurants Named Among State's Best: Michelin List

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Several Bay Area restaurants — along with their chefs — were just named finalists for the 2022 James Beard Foundation Awards, or the “Oscars of Food,” as they’re sometimes known.

Two chefs from San Francisco and Oakland were nominated in the “Outstanding Chef” and “Emerging Chef” categories, while Bay Area chefs constituted three out of the five nominees in the “Best Chef: California” category. An Oakland restaurant was also nominated as "Best New Restaurant."

The list of finalists from across the country was announced Wednesday by the James Beard Foundation, a nonprofit named after the famed chef and culinary educator James Beard, who was known as the “Dean of American Cookery.” The foundation is granting awards for the first time since 2020, when the pandemic canceled the awards ceremony, and completely upended the country’s restaurant scene.

The 2022 awards are the Foundation’s first following an extensive audit in response to what many criticized as a lack of diversity in the awards.

Final awards will be granted in a ceremony in Chicago on June 13.

Here are the Bay Area restaurants and chefs who made the second-to-final cut. Click on the links to learn more about the restaurants and their chefs:

Best New Restaurant

Horn Barbecue, Oakland

Outstanding Chef

Reem Assil, Reem’s, Oakland and San Francisco

Emerging Chef

Crystal Wahpepah, Wahpepah’s Kitchen, Oakland

Best Chef: California

• Brandon Jew, Mister Jiu’s, San Francisco
• James Syhabout, Commis, Oakland
• Pim Techamuanvivit, Nari, San Francisco

Other California finalists include:

Best New Restaurant
Angry Egret Dinette, Los Angeles

Outstanding Pastry Chef
Margarita Manzke, République, Los Angeles

Best Chef: California

• Bryant Ng, Cassia, Santa Monica
• Sarintip “Jazz” Singsanong, Jitlada, Los Angeles

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