Two big Bay Area winners emerged from Monday night’s 2026 James Beard Awards in Chicago: Michael Tusk of three-Michelin-starred Quince walked away with the Outstanding Chef award, and Kevin Diedrich of Pacific Cocktail Haven won the award for Outstanding Professional
in Cocktail Service.
Tusk took to the stage at the Lyric Opera with his wife and business partner, Lindsay Tusk, to accept the award, thanking his wife and team. Tusk expressed some incredulity at winning the award, telling the crowd that he was surprised to be nominated for Outstanding Chef this year. “It’s been a while since we’ve been here, so it was a little … I don’t want to say put out to pasture or something like that, but it was quite a surprise,” Tusk said. “But we believe in what we do, we believe in hospitality. We’re always trying to create a better team, create a better work environment for the entire team.” This is Tusk’s second time on the stage for the James Beard Awards; he snapped up the Best Chef: Pacific prize back in 2011.
Diedrich received his award for Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service from Killer Mike and El-P of Run the Jewels. Diedrich thanked his mentors and his team, saying, “It’s about the people you surround yourself with, and they’re absolutely amazing.” Diedrich also cracked a joke: “My wife, who’s been by my side for 17 years of marriage, she said she’d never marry or date a bartender, but now she’s married to an Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service.” This award adds to Diedrich’s collection for 2026; Pacific Cocktail Haven also landed on North America’s 50 Best Bars 2026 list at number 41.
In the lead-up to the event, the foundation trimmed down its long list of Bay Area semifinalists from 24 local chefs, bar professionals, restaurants, and bars to just eight nominees who moved on to finalist status. While Tusk and Diedrich received awards in national categories, unfortunately, that means a few Bay Area locals walked away empty-handed. Srijith Gopinathan and Ayesha Thapar of Ettan, Copra, and Eylan, were finalists in the Outstanding Restaurateur category, with Dana Street of Fore Street, Scales, and Standard Baking Co. of Portland, Maine, taking home the prize. Smuggler’s Cove was in the running for Outstanding Bar, ultimately losing to Scotch Lodge in Portland, Oregon. Meanwhile, Harrison Cheney of two-Michelin-starred Sons & Daughters, and chefs Sarah Cooper and Alan Hsu, of one-Michelin-starred Sun Moon Studio, all landed Best Chef: California finalist nods ahead of Monday’s event; that category was clinched by Dave Beran of Seline in Santa Monica.
The 2026 James Beard Media Awards also saw seven Bay Area locals receive acclaim for their work across categories for cookbooks, audio reporting, and social media. Chef Melissa King and co-author JJ Goode won for their cookbook, Cook Like a King: Recipes from My California Chinese Kitchen, in the Professional and Restaurant category. For the social media category, Michael Ligier won for his YouTube account, where he interviews chefs at restaurants all over the world.
Food & Environment Reporting Network (FERN) staff writer and producer Teresa Cotsirilos’s six-part series Buzzkill won in the Audio Reporting category, which covers how food production has led to the decline of pollinators like the American bumblebee. The book Eating Behind Bars: Ending the Hidden Punishment of Food in Prison, from Alex Busansky, Leslie Soble, and Aishatu Yusuf, won in the Food Issues and Advocacy category. The book follows the work of Bay Area-based Impact Justice, which documented how prisoners are fed within the penal system.
