1 day Ago By Johnathan L. Wright
The Strip is back. Three food and beverage professionals from Las Vegas were named finalists in the 2025 James Beard Foundation Restaurant and Chef Awards, often called the Oscars of the food world. The foundation announced the finalists in more than two dozen regional and national categories on Wednesday.
All three finalists are from Strip properties, a marked departure from recent years in which no Strip restaurants or professionals were finalists and only one — chef Yip Cheung of Red Plate in The Cosmopolitan in 2023 — was a semifinalist. Sarah Thompson of Casa Playa in Wynn Las Vegas and Eleazar Villanueva of Joël Robuchon in the MGM Grand were named finalists in the Best Chef: Southwest category. Cristie Norman, lead sommelier of Delilah at Wynn, was named a finalist for Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service, a national category.
Chef DJ Flores of Milpa and pizzaiolo Michael Vakneen of Double Zero Pie & Pub, who were named semifinalists in the 2025 competition in January, did not move on to the final round. The winners will be announced on June 16 at a ceremony at the Lyric Opera of Chicago; more than 2,000 people are expected to attend. This year marks the 35th anniversary of the Beard Awards.
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