{"id":341368,"date":"2026-06-18T14:13:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T14:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/341368\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T14:13:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T14:13:08","slug":"top-7-things-to-do-in-san-antonio-juneteenth-2026-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/341368\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 7 things to do in San Antonio Juneteenth 2026 weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>San Antonio&#8217;s hopes of finally winning a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jamesbeard.org\/awards\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">James Beard Award<\/a> were quashed on Monday, June 15 as both local finalists went home empty-handed. Mixtli was up for Outstanding Restaurant andTavel Bristol-Joseph of Nicosi made it to the final voting for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker.<\/p>\n<p>The James Beard Awards, widely considered the Oscars of the restaurant industry, recognize culinary prowess in a wide range of categories. The James Beard Foundation, the governing body of the awards, also honors excellence in several beverage categories, hospitality, and food writing.<\/p>\n<p>Each year, a three-step process determines the final winner. San Antonio boasted <a href=\"https:\/\/sanantonio.culturemap.com\/news\/restaurants-bars\/james-beard-awards-2026-semifinalists\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">seven semifinalists<\/a> in the January round. In addition to the Mixtli team and Bristol-Joseph, the other Alamo City nominees included:<\/p>\n<p>Outstanding Chef: David Kirkland and Ernest Servantes, Burnt Bean Co. (Seguin)Best New Restaurant: Anacacho Coffee &amp; CantinaBest Chef: Texas: Francisco Estrada and Lizzeth Martinez, Naco MexicanBest Chef: Texas: Emil Oliva, Leche de TigreBest Chef: Texas: Sue Kim, The Magpie<\/p>\n<p>Still, Texans has much to cheer about during the ceremony. Houston had a historic night at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jamesbeard.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">James Beard Awards<\/a> with two of Houston\u2019s six finalists taking home prizes for both national awards and Best Chef: Texas.<\/p>\n<p>They were:<\/p>\n<p>Emerging Chef: Adrian Torres, MaximoBest Chef Texas: Evelyn Garcia and Henry Lu, J\u016bn<\/p>\n<p>In addition, the Houston-based <a href=\"https:\/\/southernsmoke.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Southern Smoke Foundation<\/a>, a nonprofit that provides emergency assistance and mental health services to hospitality workers, received an Impact Award at a separate ceremony on Sunday, June 14.<\/p>\n<p>Each year, the awards recognize excellence by chefs and other culinary professionals in a wide range of categories from Outstanding Chef to Best New Restaurant. In 2025, the James Beard Foundation added three new categories to recognize the beverage side of hospitality: Best New Bar, Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service, and Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service.<\/p>\n<p>Winners must also have \u201cdemonstrated commitment to racial and gender equity, community, sustainability, and a culture where all can thrive,\u201d according to the organization\u2019s website.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;<br \/>Houston CultureMap Editor Eric Sandler contributed to this story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Antonio&#8217;s hopes of finally winning a James Beard Award were quashed on Monday, June 15 as both&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341369,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[48754,4037,575,2777,1111,64,18957,6592,7218,574,82,84,83,6591,6566,5909],"class_list":["post-341368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-art-exhibitions","tag-comedy","tag-concerts","tag-entertainment","tag-event-planner","tag-events","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-free-events","tag-juneteenth","tag-live-music","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-things-to-do-san-antonio","tag-weekend-activities","tag-weekend-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341368","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=341368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}