The Bay Area hospitality industry dazzled the James Beard Foundation this year, pulling in a whopping 22 nominations for restaurants, chefs, bars and more for the coveted 2025 James Beard Awards. The list of semifinalists was released Wednesday morning,

Monique Feybesse, Val Cantu, and Darryl Bell are among the Bay Area chefs named to the semifinalist list for the 2025 James Beard Awards on Wednesday, January 22. The foundation released its longlist of the 2025 semifinalists,

In 2019, the last time Tampa Bay made the cut, chefs Jeannie Pierola and Rachel Bennett were nominated for Best Chef: South and Rising Star Chef of the Year, respectively. This year, Tampa Bay restaurants and chefs were snubbed. But other Florida cities got some love.