While there are countless top-restaurant lists and best-restaurant awards, the James Beard Awards are among the most prestigious and carefully vetted. Often referred to as the Oscars of food and drink, the James Beard Foundation evaluates restaurants, bars, bakeries and more across the country.
Here’s a guide to recent semifinalists, nominees and winners from 2023 to the present to build into your next Oregon road trip. To see all recognition given to Oregon, check out the James Beard Foundation website.
The Journey to a James Beard Award
The awards process spans several months. Food lovers recommend businesses and individuals for different categories, like the regional Best Chef award and nationwide awards including Outstanding Restaurant, Outstanding Chef and Outstanding Bar. Subcommittee members and judges then visit those spots. Places that make it past the first round are called semifinalists, while those that make it past the second are called nominees; one winner in each category is chosen. Winners are announced each June at a red-carpet awards ceremony in Chicago.
Oregon is no stranger to the James Beard Awards. James Beard was born in Portland in 1903 and had a lifelong affiliation with the Oregon Coast. He was a chef, cookbook writer and host of the first televised cooking show. The foundation established in his honor gives yearly awards to people and places making a difference in the food and beverage industry.
Portland’s Plentiful James Beard Nods
Portland is home to Beard-recognized restaurants in every quadrant and for every budget. The city has a few standout tasting-menu restaurants with impeccable service. Le Pigeon (Outstanding Chef semifinalist ’25) is often credited with putting Portland’s culinary scene on the map in the mid-2000s, and multiple James Beard Award-winning chef-owner Gabriel Rucker continues to turn out intriguing dishes like scallop-eel gnocchi and tongue spanakopita. Thai restaurant Langbaan snagged the national award for Outstanding Restaurant in 2024, with tasting menus centering on themes like Esan cuisine or Bangkok’s Chinatown. At Japanese restaurant Nodoguro, diners journey through chef Ryan Roadhouse’s (Best Chef NW & Pacific semifinalist ’24, nominee ’25) artfully plated hot and cold dishes from sushi to dessert.
There are also plenty of options for high-end dining with a la carte options or lower-priced set menus. Contemporary Haitian restaurant Kann snagged the national Best New Restaurant award in 2023, and chef Gregory Gourdet won Best Chef NW & Pacific in 2024. At Gado Gado, go all in on the rijsttafel, a Dutch-Indonesian feast, or pick individual dishes like coconutty beef rendang from chef Thomas Pisha-Duffly (Best Chef NW & Pacific nominee ’23, semifinalist ’25). Coquine’s (Outstanding Restaurant ’25 nominee) menu changes frequently, but roast chicken and seasonal vegetables are constants. At modern Korean restaurant Han Oak (Outstanding Hospitality semifinalist ‘24; Best Chef NW & Pacific semifinalist for co-owner Sun Young Park, ‘23) set menus range from build-your-own gimbap to hot pot.
Some James Beard contenders stand out for their strong sense of identity or expertise. Ha VL chef Peter Vuong (Best Chef NW & Pacific semifinalist ’24) crafts a couple Vietnamese noodle soups each day. Sarah Minnick’s (Outstanding Chef nominee ’24, semifinalist ’25) Lovely’s Fifty Fifty crafts creative takes on pizza, with toppings like flowers and fermented carrots. Since winning the national Outstanding Bakery award in 2025, customers line up at JinJu Patisserie for ultra-flaky croissants.
James Beard judges also look for excellence in spirits, cocktails and wine programs. At Scotch Lodge (Outstanding Bar ’25 nominee), nerd out on the whisky list or go for cocktails incorporating Asian ingredients. OK Omens (Outstanding Wine & Other Beverages ’24 and ’25 semifinalist) earned recognition for its wine program. Heavenly Creatures’ Joel Gunderson (Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service semifinalist ’25) leans into French wines, with sprinklings of Hungarian, Georgian and Slovakian.
James Beard Awards Outside of Portland
The Willamette Valley is home to three restaurants with recent James Beard nods. In 2025 Antica Terra winery chef Timothy Wastell won the Best Chef NW award. His signature is what he calls “A Very Nice Lunch,” a two-hour journey through six of Antica Terra’s wines, interspersed by small plates. In Carlton Hayward (Best New Restaurant nominee ’24) chef Kari Shaughnessy (Best Chef NW & Pacific semifinalist ’25) crafts vegetable-forward fare. At Grounded Table (formerly known as Humble Spirit) in McMinnville, much of the produce and meat comes from the restaurant’s nearby farm. Chef Sarah Schafer (Best Chef NW & Pacific semifinalist ’25) turns pork into charcuterie and lard into Oreo-inspired cookies. In the Columbia Gorge, Hiyu Wine Farm (Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program ’23) was recognized for its low-intervention wines — inspired by nature and ancient winegrowing ways — that pair beautifully with plates made from farm-grown produce and local livestock.
Two Eugenians earned recognition: Yardy Rum Bar for chef Isaiah Martinez’s (Best Chef NW & Pacific semifinalist ’25) West Indies-inspired fare; and Lion & Owl for its farm-to-table brunch and dinner from chef Crystal Platt (Best Chef NW & Pacific semifinalist ’23), made even more special by its robust wine offerings. Down in Ashland, MÄS chef Joshua Dorcak (Best Chef NW & Pacific ’23, ’24, ’25) crafts an exquisite tasting menu that he calls “Cascadian cuisine,” made from regionally sourced ingredients turned into extraordinary dishes with French and Japanese influences.
