Montana’s Food Scene Flourishes: James Beard Awards Celebrate State’s Talent

As Montana continues to grow the food and service industry is growing with it. Not just in quantity, but in quality as well. The number of incredible bakers, chefs, and mixologists that currently call Montana home these days has some of us spoiled.

When I was growing up in Montana the number of gourmet restaurants that I was exposed to was exactly zero. These days there are more chances for all of us to experience some truly amazing food without having to go to a different state to do so.

The James Beard Foundation has announced their semi-finalists for their 2025 awards. The James Beard Foundation was founded forty years ago and recognizes some of the best in the food and beverage industry across the country every year.

The list of semi-finalists is impressive and includes several from Montana. Nominees will be announced on April 2nd and winners will be announced at the award ceremony, taking place in Chicago, on June 16th.

Montana 2025 James Beard Semi-Finalists

Congratulations to Montana's semi-finalists.

• Best New Restaurant -The Union in Helena, Montana has made it on the list.
• Outstanding Bakery -Vienne in Bozeman, Montana has made the list.
• Outstanding Bar -Devil's Toboggan in Bozeman, Montana.
• Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service -Michael Ochsner, who is involved with both Plonk locations in Missoula and Bozeman.

The category that has the most semi-finalists from Montana is the Best Chef (Mountain). There are so many in the country that they split the category up into geographic locations. The Mountain category consists of Montana, Colorado, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming.

• Joshua Adams- Campione located in Livingston
• Brandon Cunningham -The Social Haus in Greenough.
• Linda Huang- Hummingbird's Kitchen in Bozeman.
• Nick Steen Gullings and John Baldwin- Walkers Grill in Billings.
• David Wells- The Tasting Room At Chico Hot Springs in Pray.

As you can see by the size of the lists, there are a lot of quality people and places in Montana that are creating food and drinks that many appreciate. We wish them all luck in the award process and hope that some of them will be on stage in Chicago this June to accept their awards.