Houston chefs, restaurants take 12 spots on James Beard Awards\u2019 2026 semifinalists list<\/a><\/p>\n
\nHouston\u2019s nominees take center stage <\/p>\n
\nOutstanding Restaurateur <\/p>\n
Hugo Ortega and Tracy Vaught, H Town Restaurant GroupRestaurants: Hugo\u2019s, Xochi, Urbe, and others <\/p>\n
Ortega and Vaught lead Houston\u2019s charge in the Outstanding Restaurateur category, which honors someone who uses their establishment(s) as a vehicle for building community and demonstrates creativity in entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n
\nBest New Restaurant <\/p>\n
This newcomer, which opened between Oct. 1, 2024, and Sept. 30, 2025, already demonstrates excellence in cuisine and is seen as likely to make a significant impact in years to come.<\/p>\n
\nEmerging Chef <\/p>\n
Adrian Torrers, Maximo, West University Place <\/p>\n
\nOutstanding Professional in Beverage Service <\/p>\n
June Rodil – Restaurant: March <\/p>\n
Rodil was nominated for curating and serving wine, beer, or other offerings with high standards, creativity, and excellence in hospitality.<\/p>\n
\nBest Chef: Texas <\/p>\n
Ope Amosu, Ch\u00f2pnBl\u1ecdk, Houston, TexasEvelyn Garcia and Henry Lu, J\u016aN, Houston, Texas <\/p>\n
Both chef duos compete in the regional Best Chef: Texas category, which recognizes chefs setting high standards in culinary skills and leadership while helping create sustainable work cultures.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Got a news tip or story idea? Email us at\u00a0newstips@khou.com<\/a>\u00a0or call 713-521-4310 and include your name and the best way to reach you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Houston’s culinary excellence shines on the national stage. Local talents earned 2026 James Beard Award nominations, highlighting the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229875,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":{"0":"post-229874","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-houston","9":"tag-houston-headlines","10":"tag-houston-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}