On Monday, June 15, the James Beard Foundation revealed the remaining winners of the 2026 James Beard Awards at its annual ceremony in Chicago, bringing the restaurant industry’s greatest annual honors to a close after months of anticipation. The awards, widely considered among the highest accolades for chefs and restaurateurs in the United States, recognize excellence across categories spanning Outstanding Restaurant, Best New Restaurant, Outstanding Chef, and regional Best Chef awards, as well as America’s Classics and other categories. This year’s host is cookbook author and Top Chef host Gail Simmons, and the event took place at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
This evening’s Restaurant and Chef Awards follow the foundation’s Media Awards announcements this past weekend, which celebrated achievements in cookbooks, journalism, broadcast, social media, and other food storytelling. The 2026 restaurant and chef finalists were announced on March 31, narrowing down a field that included honorees from across the country.
The foundation previously recognized several 2026 honorees outside of tonight’s competitive categories, including No Us Without You founders Damián Diaz and Othón Nolasco, who received the Humanitarian of the Year Award, and chef and restaurateur Nancy Silverton, who was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award. The recipients of this year’s Impact Award were the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation, New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Luján, ReFED, and the Southern Smoke Foundation.
Top honors went to Michael Tusk of San Francisco’s Quince (Outstanding Chef), Philadelphia’s Kalaya (Outstanding Restaurant), Adrian Torres of Maximo (Emerging Chef), New York City’s Lei (Best New Restaurant), Bozeman, Montana bakery Wild Crumb (Outstanding Bakery), and Providence, Rhode Island bar Loma (Best New Bar), among others.
The star-studded event featured appearances from Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson, hip hop duo Run the Jewels, and more familiar faces from politics and culture. Heartfelt speeches from both presenters and winners emphasized the immeasurable contributions immigrants have made to America, and especially to the world of food and dining. “Our industry is an industry of immigrants,” said No Us Without You co-founder Damian Díaz. “Immigrants are what make this America great… the system, as broken as it is, is carried by immigrant arms.”
Other moments were more lighthearted; two-time James Beard Award winner Mashama Bailey threw out a “go Knicks!” from onstage, while the Scotch Lodge folks, in their acceptance speech for Best New Bar, declared, “We’ll see you at karaoke afterward. The gauntlet’s been thrown down.”
See the full list of winners in each category below.
2026 James Beard Awards: Restaurant and Chef Winners
Adrian Torres, Maximo, West University Place, TX
Dana Street (Fore Street, Scales, Standard Baking Co., and others), Portland, ME
Michael Tusk, Quince, San Francisco, CA
Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker
Susan Bae, Moon Rabbit, Washington, D.C.
Providence, Los Angeles, CA
Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program
Scotch Lodge, Portland, OR
Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service
Lee Campbell, Borgo, New York, NY
Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service
Kevin Diedrich, Pacific Cocktail Haven, San Francisco, CA
Dave Beran, Seline, Santa Monica, CA
Best Chef: Great Lakes (IL, IN, MI, OH)
Jacob Potashnick, Feld, Chicago, IL
Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic (DC, DE, MD, NJ, PA, VA)
Jesse Ito, Royal Sushi & Izakaya, Philadelphia, PA
Best Chef: Midwest (IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD, WI)
Loryn Nalic, Balkan Treat Box, Webster Groves, MO
Best Chef: Mountain (CO, ID, MT, UT, WY)
Penelope Wong, Yuan Wonton, Denver, CO
Best Chef: New York State
Hooni Kim, Meju, Queens, NY
Best Chef: Northeast (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT)
Evan Hennessey, Stages, Dover, NH
Best Chef: Northwest & Pacific (AK, HI, OR, WA)
Ryan Roadhouse, Nodoguro, Portland, OR
Best Chef: South (AL, AR, FL, LA, MS, PR)
Serigne Mbaye, Dakar NOLA, New Orleans, LA
Best Chef: Southeast (GA, KY, NC, SC, TN, WV)
Taylor Montgomery, Montgomery Sky Farm, Leicester, NC
Best Chef: Southwest (AZ, NM, NV, OK)
Sarah Thompson, Casa Playa, Las Vegas, NV
Evelyn Garcia and Henry Lu, JŪN, Houston, TX
- No Us Without You LA, Damián Diaz and Othon Nolasco
- Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA)
- Jon Bon Jovi Soul Kitchen
- Senator Ben Ray Luján
- ReFED
- Southern Smoke Foundation
Disclosure: Some Vox Media staff members are part of the voting body for the James Beard Awards.
