Despite a strong showing at the 2026 James Beard Awards, no Wisconsin finalists walked away with the coveted medallion.
Five Wisconsin-based chefs, restaurants, beverage professionals and bakeries were nominated this year. They were Zak Baker of Wauwatosa’s Ca’Lucchenzo in the category of Best Chef: Midwest, Milwaukee’s 1033 Omakase in the national category of Best New Restaurant, Baileys Harbor’s Sway Brewing & Blending in the national category of Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program, Sister Bay’s Cultured in the national category of Outstanding Bakery, and Hastings Cameron of Madison’s Imaginary Factory in the national category of Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service.
It was the first nomination for all of Wisconsin’s finalists.
The James Beard Foundation held its annual award ceremony on the evening of June 15 at the Lyric Opera in Chicago. Considered the Oscars of the culinary world, the ceremony honors the country’s best restaurants, chefs, bars, beverage professionals and others in the hospitality industry.
The most recent Wisconsin-based James Beard Award winners were Itaru Nagano and Andrew Kroeger of Madison’s Fairchild, who won the Best Chef: Midwest Category in 2023. Dane Baldwin of Milwaukee’s The Diplomat restaurant won in the same category in 2022.
Wisconsin was represented with 12 semifinalists this year. Aside from this year’s finalists, the Mothership was named in the national category of Outstanding Bar, Mother’s chef-owner Vanessa Rose was named in the national category of Emerging Chef, and in the Best Chef: Midwest category were Goodkind chef-owners Lisa Kirkpatrick and Paul Zerkel, Kasey Lee Cooke of Madison’s Mint Mark, and Adam Marty of Appleton’s Ellinor.
The full list of 2026 James Beard Award winners can be found online at jamesbeard.org.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee, Wisconsin finalists fall short at James Beard Awards
Reporting by Rachel Bernhard, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Rachel Bernhard, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
