James Beard Award Restaurant and Chef semifinalists

Yesterday the James Beard Foundation released its 2026 semifinalists for its Restaurant and Chefs Awards. The Awards celebrate excellence with national awards such as Best New Restaurant, Outstanding Baker, Outstanding Chef, Outstanding Pastry Chef, Outstanding Restaurateur, Outstanding Bar, and Emerging Chef, plus regional categories for Best Chef. 

Several chefs nominated for Outstanding Restaurateur or Outstanding Chef have written cookbooks:

• Stuart Brioza and Nicole Krasinski of Atomic Workshop, San Francisco, CA
• Elizabeth Blau of Buddy V’s and Honeysalt, Las Vegas, NV
• Donald Link with Link Restaurant Group, New Orleans, LA
• Peter Merriman of Monkeypod, Hawaii
• Hugo Ortega and Tracy Vaught of H-Town Restaurant Group, Houston, TX
• Gabriel Kreuther, Gabriel Kreuther, New York, NY
• Kwame Onwuachi, Tatiana, New York, NY
• Missy Robbins, Lilia, Brooklyn, NY

One interesting note is that E.J. Lagasse, son of famed New Orleans chef Emeril Lagasse, has been nominated for Emerging Chef. The finalists (nominees) will be announced on Tuesday, March 31, and winners will be celebrated at the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards Ceremony on Monday, June 15, 2026 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.