The finalists for this year's "Oscars of the food world" are now out, and while things are trending upward for Bay Area nominees, many of the "long-listed" semi-finalists from the local region were shut out.

It's been a familiar pattern of the last couple of years that the Bay Area can't catch a break at the James Beard Awards, though this year's slate of semi-finalists suggested things might be turning around.

Granted, making the cut between the so-called "long list" and the actual list of finalists or nominees is challenging given that some categories, like Best New Restaurant, had 30 semifinalists this year, for only 10 finalist slots. California got only one nod (Ki in Los Angeles), and so did New York (Lei), and we know the nominating committee is trying to be more geographically diverse these days. But this meant that Hayes Valley's Happy Crane is not on the list of finalists.

There are no Bay Area nominees this year for Emerging Chef or Outstanding Restaurant (Steve Joo of Oakland's Joodooboo was in the former category as a semifinalist, and Foreign Cinema was long-listed in the latter). But in the Outstanding Chef category is former Best Chef: West winner Michael Tusk of Quince, now one of five nominees in this prestigious category.

Srijith Gopinathan and Ayesha Thapar also made the cut in the Outstanding Restaurateur category for their Bay Area restaurant group Cal-India Collective (Ettan, Copra, Eylan and Little Blue Door).

SoCal took three slots and the Bay has two in the Best Chef: California category, with Harrison Cheney of Sons & Daughters and Sarah Cooper and Alan Hsu of Oakland's Sun Moon Studio getting nods.

Longstanding Tiki stalwart Smuggler's Cove got a nod in the Outstanding Bar category, and Kevin Diedrich of Pacific Cocktail Haven is nominated for Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service.

House of Prime Rib was, sadly, shut out of the Outstanding Hospitality category.

And we learn today that Los Angeles celebrity chef Nancy Silverton will be getting this year's Lifetime Achievement Award.

This year's James Beard Awards ceremony is being held Monday, June 15, 2026 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

See the rest of the restaurant and chef nominees from around the country here.