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A Cedar Rapids chef and a restaurant in Des Moines have been named James Beard semifinalists

Patrons enjoy their meals inside Simon's on Jan. 23. The dinner restaurant is a James Beard semifinalist for Outstanding Hospitality.
Josie Fischels
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Iowa Public Radio
Patrons enjoy their meals inside Simon's on Jan. 23. The dinner restaurant is a James Beard semifinalist for Outstanding Hospitality.

It's the 35th anniversary of the prestigious James Beard Awards, which recognizes culinary excellence across the country. A Cedar Rapids chef and Des Moines restaurant have made the list of 2025 Restaurant and Chef Award semifinalists.

The awards name 20 semifinalists in each category. Andy Schumacher, chef and co-owner of Cobble Hill in Cedar Rapids, was listed in the Best Chef: Midwest category. He earned a nomination for the same award in 2015, two years after the restaurant opened.

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Cobble Hill
Andy Schumacher, chef and co-owner of Cobble Hill in Cedar Rapids, is a James Beard semifinalist for Best Chef: Midwest. He earned a nomination for the same award in 2015, two years after his restaurant, Cobble Hill, opened in Cedar Rapids.

Schumacher ditched a career in medicine to pursue his passion for cooking. He moved to New York with his wife, Carrie, to study at the French Culinary Institute. After four years, they moved back to Iowa to raise their children and start their own restaurant.

Named after the neighborhood in Brooklyn, N.Y. where the couple once lived, Cobble Hill offers an upscale and chef-driven fine dining experience "with an urban feel." The ceiling is high, the walls are lined with brick and your table is lit with soft, glowing lamplight.

Over in Des Moines, Italian dinner restaurant Simon's was named a semifinalist for Outstanding Hospitality. Owner Simon Goheen bought the restaurant — then called J. Benjamin's — in 2005.

"When you walk through our doors you are entering a building where family, quality, and fun are traditions!" the restaurant's website promises.

Even in stark, bitter January, the line runs down the block outside Simon's before the restaurant opens, as there is no call-ahead seating and no reservations for small parties. Once inside, it's not uncommon to be welcomed in by Simon himself, who can be spotted flitting between tables, delivering drinks and making conversation throughout the experience.

If you don't get a table right away, you'll be invited to wait in the lounge for games and drinks delivered to your seat. And after dinner, you'll be treated to a complimentary piece of red velvet cake.

Five finalists in each of the awards' 25 categories will be announced April 2. Winners will be announced at the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards ceremony June 16 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Josie Fischels is IPR's Arts & Culture Reporter, with expertise in performance art, visual art and Iowa Life. She's covered local and statewide arts, news and lifestyle features for The Daily Iowan, The Denver Post, NPR and currently for IPR. Fischels is a University of Iowa graduate.