Foodflash: 9 Hawai‘i Chefs and Eateries Are in the Running for 2025 James Beard Awards

An emerging chef and a baker new to Honolulu are semifinalists for the country’s top culinary honors.

January 22, 2025

Mari Taketa,

Photo: Courtesy of James Beard Awards

The James Beard Awards announced more than 500 semifinalists for its 2025 awards this morning, including nine from Hawai‘i among the country’s culinary, beverage and hospitality standouts. Among the Hawai‘i candidates are a new restaurant and a new baker on the Honolulu scene. Four of the nine are up for national awards and five for Best Chef in the Northwest and Pacific.

New semifinalists this year are:

Keoni Regidor of Lehua Restaurant on Hawai‘i Island for Best Emerging Chef
The Local General Store in Kaimukī for Outstanding Bakery
Hana Quon of Patisserie HQ in Honolulu for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker
Dave Newman of Honolulu’s Pint + Jigger for Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service, a newly added category
Hyun Kim of Chinatown’s O’Kims Korean Kitchen for Best Chef: Northwest & Pacific

Regidor, Local General Store, Quon and Newman are semifinalists in national categories, meaning they are among only 20 nominated from across the country.

Also up for Best Chef: Northwest & Pacific are four others who were semifinalists in previous years. In all, 20 chefs from Alaska, Hawai‘i, Oregon and Washington made the cut.

Ki Chung of Bar Māze in Kaka‘ako
Ed Kenney of Mud Hen Water in Kaimukī
Andrew Le of The Pig & the Lady in Chinatown
Sheldon Simeon of Tiffany’s in Wailuku, Maui

This is the first round of the awards competition. The James Beard Foundation will announce a shortlist of nominees on April 2. The 2025 winners will be announced in Chicago on June 16.

Hawai‘i has had a small run of James Beard Awards in recent years. In 2023, Downtown Honolulu’s Bar Leather Apron won the state’s first national JB award as Outstanding Bar. Earlier that year, Manago Hotel on Hawai‘i Island won a James Beard America’s Classics Award, joining Helena’s Hawaiian Food, Sam Choy’s Kaloko and Hamura Saimin, which all won decades earlier. In 2022, Robynne Maii of Chinatown’s Fête was named Best Chef: Northwest & Pacific, the state’s first James Beard Award in 19 years.