NHawai’i chefs and restaurants are among just over 500 nationwide in the running for the 2026 James Beard Awards. The semifinalists named in a press release this morning by the New York-based James Beard Foundation include four national award nominees and five for Best Chef: Northwest & Pacific. Five of the nine are first-time semifinalists at America’s top culinary awards
Hawaii’s 2026 semifinalists for the national awards, all firsts except The Local General Store, are:
Featured Restaurateur: Peter Merriman—Merriman’s, Monkeypod Kitchen, Moku Kitchen and others, multiple islands
Emerging Chef: Bao Tran—ThursdayChinatown
SEE ALSO: The owners of Giovedì, the Hale ‘Aina’ awards for the best new restaurant of 2025, are unapologetic.
Featured bakery: The local general storeSeamick, stohallkut
SEE ALSO: The local general store carries meats and sweets under one roof
Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker: Neale AsatoAsato Family Shop and Asatos Waikīkī, Downtown and Waikīkī
SEE ALSO: Asatos Waikīkī debuts a whimsical three-course dessert omakase starting today
Additionally, five chefs from O’ahu and Maui are semifinalists in Best Chef: Northwest & Pacific, a region that includes Alaska, Oregon, Washington and Hawai’i:
- Michele Di Bari – Salt PepperA Resort, Lahaina, Maui
- Ed Kenney: Mud Hen WaterSeamick, stohallkut
- Andrew Le: The Pig and the LadySeamick, stohallkut
- Sheldon Simeon: Tiffany Restaurant and BarWailuku, Wailuku, Maui
- Yuya Yamanaka, Paris Hawai’iit’s me
Di Bari, chef and co-owner of a popular Italian restaurant that was destroyed by the Maui fires and rebuilt in a different location; and Yamanaka, chef of a fine-dining prix fixe restaurant at Salt at Our Kaka’ako, are the first semi-finalists. Kenney and Le have received multiple accolades, and Simeon, perhaps Hawai’i’s most recognized celebrity chef as a two-time fan favorite on Bravo TV. Top Chef— reached the final in 2022.
The history of the James Beard Awards in Hawaii dates back to 1993, when Roy Yamaguchi won the state’s first JBA recognition. He was followed by Alan Wong in 1996 and Chef Mavro’s George Mavrothalassitis in 2003. Helena’s Hawaiian Food earned a nomination for the foundation’s Americans Classics in 2000. When Hawaii was grouped in the same geographic category as California, there was a long dry spell. The groupings then readjusted, and in fairly quick succession, Robynne Maii of Chinatown’s Fête won Best Chef: Northwest & Pacific in 2022, followed the next year by Manago Hotel’s America’s Classics and Hawaii’s first national James Beard Award: Bar Leather Apron’s win for Outstanding Bar.
SEE ALSO: Foodflash: Fête’s Robynne Maii wins Hawai’i’s first James Beard Award in 19 years
Those who advance to the next step in the selection process will be announced on March 31. From there, the James Beard Foundation will announce the 2026 winners at a restaurant and chef awards ceremony in Chicago on June 15.
Mari Taketa is editor of Frolic Hawai’i and dining editor of HONOLULU Magazine.
