Multiple Bay Area Bars and Restaurants Honored as James Beard Award Semifinalists

"San Francisco has been mostly snubbed for several years at the James Beard Awards, following a couple of decades in which the city figured prominently in the annual "Oscars of the food world." This can be chalked up, in part, to an ebb tide in local restaurant openings, and to the awards facing criticism about lack of diversity in 2020 to which the James Beard Foundation responded by making sure that nominees are more well spread across the country."

"Still, that doesn't explain why longtime SF restaurateurs and chefs have been ignored in major categories as well, with categories like Best Chef: California, Outstanding Chef, and Outstanding Restaurateur generally featuring established names. (Despite San Francisco being the dominant food scene in the state, the only Best Chef: California winner from SF in the last seven years was Brandon Jew of Mister Jiu's in 2022. And the last Outstanding Restaurant winner here was over a decade ago, the now closed Slanted Door, in 2014.)"

"Things appear to be turning around for SF this year at the James Beard Awards, just as they appear to be turning around for the city more broadly, at least via the 2026 list of semifinalists in the Chef & Restaurant Awards. A whopping 21 chefs, restaurants, bars, and restaurateurs from the Bay Area figure among the semifinalists, including in the major categories like Best New Restaurant where we see Hayes Valley's Happy Crane among a total of 30 semifinalists."

San Francisco and Bay Area restaurants and bars have been long-listed among the 2026 James Beard Foundation Awards semifinalists, including Happy Crane, Sons & Daughters, and House of Prime Rib. San Francisco experienced several years of relative exclusion from major James Beard categories after decades of prominence. Contributing factors include a slowdown in local restaurant openings and a post-2020 Foundation effort to distribute nominees more evenly across the country following diversity criticisms. Longtime local chefs and restaurateurs have often been overlooked in major honors. The 2026 semifinals show improvement with 21 Bay Area semifinalists and entries in major categories like Best New Restaurant and Outstanding Restaurateur.

Read at sfist.com