Sullivan’s Castle Island Is Boston’s Only James Beard Winner This Year
We raise a hot dog in congratulations, but we’re bummed that the James Beard Foundation overlooked the rest of our dining scene.
Sullivan’s Castle Island burger. / Courtesy photo
The James Beard Foundation really knows how to keep us on our toes: Half a year after announcing the semifinalists for its annual restaurant and chef awards—and the whittled-down list of nominees a few months later (yeah, the nomenclature is a little confusing)—it’s finally time to learn the winners of the highly coveted medals. Drumroll, please: Greater Boston has just one newly minted Beard Award winner, as announced at a June 16 gala in Chicago.
Well, not quite newly minted: Sullivan’s Castle Island was actually announced as a winner back in February, one of six restaurants awarded the annual America’s Classics designation. (This category is presented on a different timeline than the bulk of the restaurant and chef awards.) “Every Bostonian has a story about Sully’s,” the foundation’s editorial team wrote at the time, “whether from working there after school as teenagers, having their sports team or fundraiser supported by Sully’s, taking their children for some crinkle cuts like their grandparents took them, or simply enjoying it as a nostalgic seaside gathering place for locals. For transplants and visitors to Boston, going there has become a rite of passage.”
Unfortunately, the three Greater Boston restaurant and chef award nominees for 2025—Sarma’s Cassie Piuma for Outstanding Chef, Merai for Best New Bar, and Urban Hearth’s Erin Miller for Best Chef: Northeast—didn’t win this year.
Gift Horse. / Photo by Catherine Dzilenski
But beyond Massachusetts, one of our New England neighbors took home a medal: Sky Haneul Kim of Gift Horse in Providence, Rhode Island, for Best Chef: Northeast. Gift Horse, one of our favorite Providence spots, is a creative raw bar from the team behind Oberlin (which was a nominee in the Outstanding Restaurant category), also in Providence.
Now that the Beards are over until 2026, it’s time for Boston’s restaurant obsessives to play the Michelin guessing game in the leadup to the release of the first Boston edition of the Michelin Guide later this year.
