The 2025 James Beard Awards Winners in Portland and Oregon

The 2025 James Beard Awards winners have been announced, the gala commenced, the medallions given. Portland and Oregon had six entries in four categories, and of those six, two went home with an award—one from Portland and one from rural Oregon. Congratulations to both!

The Portland and Oregon 2025 James Beard Awards: Restaurant and Chef Categories

There were four categories that the 2025 James Beard Awards finalists from Portland and Oregon were nominated in:

• Outstanding Restaurant
• Outstanding Bakery
• Outstanding Bar
• Best Chef: Northwest & Pacific (AK, HI, OR, WA).

Our 2025 James Beard Awards Winners

Outstanding Bakery

• Winner: Jinju Patisserie (N, website)

As a fan of JinJu, it was really satisfying to see them win this award. Some of the things Q said:

“Thank you James Beard Foundation for a most inspiring award. We are deeply honored and very grateful. First of all I would like to thank our Jinju team. Thank you for your hard work and dedication. Thank you to my business partner and my lifetime partner in crime, Jin, and our amazing community.

“The amazing Portland community—thank you. They’ve been showing us amazing love, amazing support from day one of opening our little tiny shop.”

I asked Q how she was feeling after winning the award and she said, “Over the moon. I feel like all the hard work has paid off. Jin and I, we’ve been in Portland for over six years and we went through so much—personally and professionally—and I feel like everything has paid off.”

They say we will be able to see their award at the shop. Big congrats to Jinju for this win!

Best Chef: Northwest & Pacific (AK, HI, OR, WA) Outside Portland

• Winner: Timothy Wastell, Antica Terra, Amity (website)

One of the correspondents said after his win was announced, “Timothy’s life has just changed … forever!” Another one chimed in, “for-EVER!”

Another expressed the importance of this award to the city of Amity and rural America: “Amity, Oregon—I mean we’re talking about truly, the heart of agricultural America. And this is really something to say, that greatness can be found anywhere in this country. When we recognize that our rural communities are home for an incredible culinary excellence, it just makes the story richer.”

I asked Timothy how he was feeling after winning the award. He said, “This is not the reason that I do it. I’ve been cooking for 26 years and there has been very little attention or eyes on on me ever. But I’m flattered, honored. It feels good.”

The 2025 James Beard Awards Finalists in Oregon

As a reminder these folks were our state’s finalists, and while they didn’t win an award tonight, they are still awesome.

Outstanding Bar

• Scotch Lodge (SE, website)

Best Chef: Northwest & Pacific (AK, HI, OR, WA) Outside Portland

• Ryan Roadhouse, Nodoguro (NE, website)
• Joshua Dorcak, MÄS, Ashland (website)

Outstanding Restaurant

• Coquine (SE, website)

2025 James Beard Award Winners Ceremony: Our Live Skeeting Experiment

I decided to “live skeet” the night on Bluesky; I used the hashtag #jamesbeardawards and a few others. It was a lot of fun and thats to all who engaged. Maybe we’ll do it another time, too.

Additional thanks to Eater for livestreaming the event, and to Wagstaff PR, which arranged the virtual press room.

And that’s a wrap. See you next year, James Beard Foundation Awards!!