Jesse Ito, a chef at Royal Sushi & Izakaya in Philadelphia, won a prestigious James Beard Award Monday night.
Ito beat out four other finalists to win the best chef award from the Mid-Atlantic region (Washington, D.C., Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia) at the annual James Beard Award ceremony in Chicago.
Jesse Ito (L) attends the 2026 James Beard Restaurant And Chef Awards on June 15, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jeff Schear/Getty Images for the James Beard Foundation)
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Other Philadelphia chefs — Amanda Shulman at Her Place Supper Club and Omar Tate and Cybille St. Aude-Tate at Honeysuckle — were among the nominees for the best chef in the Mid-Atlantic region.
This is a developing story and will be updated.