The Winners and Best Moments from the 2026 James Beard Awards

On Monday, chefs, restaurateurs, and food lovers from across the country gathered in Chicago to celebrate this year's James Beard Awards. The awards honor bakers, sommeliers, chefs, and other restaurant workers who are defining the way forward for the hospitality industry. The Beards are among the most prestigious awards in the food world, and the black-tie awards ceremony is equal parts nerves and excitement for attendees.

This year's ceremony saw some particularly notable moments. Jon Bon Jovi walked the red carpet for his foundation, JBJ Soul Kitchen, a nonprofit kitchen which addresses hunger, homelessness, and poverty, for which he was recognized with an Impact Award. (Other honorees for that award include Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA); New Mexico senator Ben Ray Luján; ReFED, a leading food waste nonprofit; and the Southern Smoke Foundation. Chef Nancy Silverton also took the stage to accept a Lifetime Achievement Award, 35 years after she made history as the first-ever winner of the James Beard Award for Pastry Chef of the Year in 1991. Michael Tusk, of three-Michelin-starred Quince, took home the Outstanding Chef Award, the first time in 22 years it was awarded to a chef from San Francisco.

One of the night's recurring themes centered the restaurant industry's immigrant stories. Early in the evening, Illinois governor JB Pritzker and Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson, both critics of the Trump Administration, gave impassioned speeches pledging to protect immigrant communities from authoritarian actions. (Last fall, Chicago was the site of Operation Midway Blitz, where ICE officials raided the city’s restaurants and created a culture of fear among neighbors and businesses.) Many honorees shared their personal stories about resilience, challenges, and leadership.

You can watch the full awards program on Bon Appétit’s YouTube channel and catch highlights from the red carpet on Instagram. It was a thrilling evening and we’ve recapped some of our favorite moments from the night below.

So often restaurant people are relegated to what can only be described as “chef clothes.” You know what I'm talking about: the clogs, the chef pants, the polka-dot chefs pants. But the James Beard Awards are an opportunity to show up and show out. We recapped our favorite looks on the red carpet, but special attention must be paid to Laura Gardner, owner of Local Style Potato Chips, whose dress designed by Tukii Tucker was made out of bags of her products. This year was the dress’s second year on the carpet—this time around, Gardner added a larger-than-life cowl. Other standouts: chef Gregory Gourdet (owner of Portland's Kann) and his dazzling collection of brooches; sommelier Belinda Chang’s food-themed nail set; and so many pleats.

The first category of the night was a competitive one: Emerging Chef. This award is given to “a chef who displays exceptional talent, character, and leadership ability, and who is likely to make a significant impact in years to come,” according to the James Beard Foundation. It was a stacked category that included Fátima Juárez of Los Angeles’s Komal, Rasheeda Purdie of Ramen by Ra in New York, and EJ Lagasse, the youngest chef to be awarded two Michelin stars. The award went to Adrian Torres’s Maximo in Houston, who is as celebrated for his advocacy work with local organizations like FIEL Houston, an immigrant-led legal and education organization, as much as for his leadership in the kitchen. Torres began his acceptance speech speaking of his family’s journey to the US when he was young, describing how his parents sat him down and told him to never share his immigration status. “For a long time, fear was our story,” he said. “Today, standing on this stage I want to say something my younger self never thought I would have the opportunity to say: I am proud to be a child of immigrants, I am proud to be an immigrant, I am proud to be a DACA recipient.” The crowd leapt to their feet for a long applause break.

Sarah Thompson’s win in the Best Chef: Southeast category, is the first for a Las Vegas chef in 15 years. Her restaurant, Casa Playa, serves coastal Mexican cuisine at the Encore in Las Vegas, and includes its own house-made masa program. “It’s been a while since Vegas has been up here,” Thompson said proudly, accepting the award. “Vegas is a wild place, but it’s a cool city because it’s anything you want it to be. What people don’t know is that Vegas is wildly unexpected. I didn’t expect to move there, or build a home there, or build something like Casa Playa, and I love it, I really do.”

Serigne Mbaye’s win in the Best Chef: South category, is his second James Beard Award. His restaurant Dakar NOLA with business partner Effie Richardson took Best New Restaurant in 2023. Mbaye, whose restaurant Dakar NOLA was also named one of Bon Appétit’s Best New Restaurants of 2023, told his story of coming back to America 18 years ago. ”I didn’t speak any English. I could not write my name,” he said. “Couldn’t read. His voice broke as he held back tears “Standing here 18 years later, being nominated and winning Best Chef: South means a lot to me.” He told the story of his mother’s restaurant, and how the Senegalese food she served was a lifeline for his community in America. “Food is an opportunity,” Mbaye continued. “It gave my mom a lifeline back to Senegal, it gave me a platform to share the food I grew up with, it gave me the opportunity to further my education and learn about different cultures and different cuisines.”

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

Kalaya, Philadelphia, PA

Lei, New York, NY

Wild Crumb, Bozeman, MT

Susan Bae, Moon Rabbit, Washington, DC

Providence, Los Angeles, CA

Kato, Los Angeles, CA

Scotch Lodge, Portland, OR

Loma, Providence, RI

Lee Campbell, Borgo, New York, NY

Kevin Diedrich, Pacific Cocktail Haven, San Francisco, CA

Dave Beran, Seline, Santa Monica, CA

Jacob Potashnick, Feld, Chicago, IL

Jesse Ito, Royal Sushi & Izakaya, Philadelphia, PA

Loryn Nalic, Balkan Treat Box, Webster Groves, MO

Penelope Wong, Yuan Wonton, Denver, CO

Hooni Kim, Meju, Queens, NY

Evan Hennessey, Stages, Dover, NH

Ryan Roadhouse, Nodoguro, Portland, OR

Serigne Mbaye, Dakar NOLA, New Orleans, LA

Taylor Montgomery, Montgomery Sky Farm, Leicester, NC

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

• Nancy Silverton

• Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA)
• JBJ Soul Kitchen
• Senator Ben Ray Luján
• ReFED
• Southern Smoke Foundation