This morning, the James Beard Foundation announced its list of semifinalists for the 2026 Restaurant and Chef Awards. The so-called “long list” includes both national and regional categories, both of which include Cleveland chefs.
In the Outstanding Hospitality category — a nation-wide grouping — Mallorca, the longtime Spanish restaurant in downtown Cleveland, was named as a semi-finalist.
In the Best Chef: Great Lakes category, which includes IL, IN, MI, and OH, Vinnie Cimino of Cordelia has once again made the cut as a semi-finalist. Cimino, who didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, was a finalist in 2024 but did not grab the gold.
Cleveland has not had a James Beard Award winner in the Restaurant and Chef categories since Jonathon Sawyer in 2015. In 2009, Michael Symon became the first Cleveland chef to snag a James Beard Award. In 2022, Jeremy Umansky won in the media category for the book “Koji Alchemy: Rediscovering the Magic of Mold-Based Fermentation,” which he co-authored with Rick Shih.
Last year, Brandon Chrostowski, founder and CEO of EDWINS Leadership & Restaurant Institute, received a 2025 James Beard Foundation Impact Award, a new honor that recognized his efforts to create a more equitable and inclusive culinary landscape.
The list of finalists will be announced on April 1st, and the winners will be announced at the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards Ceremony on June 15 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
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