Jersey Chefs Score Nominations for 2025 James Beard Awards

David Viana of Lita in Aberdeen and Dan Richer of Razza in Jersey City have both previously been nominated for the James Beard Foundation's award for best chef.

Chef David Viana at Lita in Aberdeen
Chef David Viana at Lita in Aberdeen Photo: Courtesy of ET Schindler

Two New Jersey chefs were announced today as semifinalists for prestigious James Beard Awards for best chef: David Viana of Lita in Aberdeen and Dan Richer of Razza in Jersey City.

Viana, a Top Chef competitor whose restaurants have frequently appeared on New Jersey Monthly’s Best Restaurants list, also co-owns Heirloom Kitchen in Old Bridge and La Otra, the cocktail bar inside Lita, which was named one of Esquire magazine’s best bars in America last year.

Lita, which also made Esquire’s Best New Restaurants list in 2023, is a modern Iberian restaurant that combines Portuguese and Spanish food. It’s named after Viana’s mother, Rosa Lita, and is a celebration of his family’s culinary legacy.

The James Beard Foundation named Viana and his partner Neilly Robinson semifinalists for best new restaurant last year; Viana was also nominated for best chef in 2018. Viana and Robinson’s Asbury Park restaurant, Heirloom at the St. Laurent, recently announced that it would be rebranding as Judy & Harry’s, an Italian restaurant with a “whimsical, international flair.”

The New York Times has cheekily called Razza the best pizza in New York, even though it’s in Jersey City. Owner Dan Richer been nominated by the James Beard Foundation before—as a semifinalist in the rising-star category in 2011 and as a James Beard semifinalist four other times. Richer opened the restaurant—consistently named one of the best pizza spots in the Garden State—in 2012, where he’s been serving up handcrafted wood-fired pizzas ever since.

Richer even wrote a book documenting his culinary journey, The Joy of Pizza, in 2021, featuring recipes and anecdotes for home bakers and chefs.“This is such an honor, and I am just happy to be representing New Jersey along with David Viana from Lita,” Richer tells New Jersey Monthly.

The James Beard nominations for best chef are in the Mid-Atlantic region, which includes New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Delaware, Maryland and Washington, D.C.

Finalists will be announced on April 2, and winners will be honored at the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards ceremony in Chicago on June 16.


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