By
Seattle Times food writer
The James Beard Awards announced Wednesday morning that two Seattle restaurants — Little Beast, an elevated English pub in Ballard, and fusion cafe The Wayland Mill in Wallingford near Gas Works Park — are in the running to be named Best New Restaurant in America.
Those two Seattle restaurants and 15 more Washington state chefs, restaurants, bars and bakers were named semifinalists for the James Beard Awards on Wednesday, considered the Oscars of the restaurant world.
In the national Emerging Chef category, first-timer Ahmed Suliman made the cut for his work at Cafe Suliman on Capitol Hill, while siblings Thai and Trinh Nguyen of Ramie also received their first Beard nomination as semifinalists for Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific.
Two Washington restaurants outside Seattle also received nominations: The Elbow Room in Vancouver and Starla’s in Bellingham.
The Elbow Room is up for the national Best New Bar award while Jordan Koplowitz of Starla’s is up for top chef in the Northwest. The latter has Seattle ties: Koplowitz originally opened the late, great Blotto on Capitol Hill before it closed and reopened up north with a new name.
The James Beard Foundation will announce finalists online on March 31, with the winners named on June 15 at an award ceremony in Chicago. The Evergreen State will hope to turn over a new leaf this year: Washington restaurants have been blanked at the Beard Awards for five years straight.
Below are the categories they were nominated in.
Outstanding Chef
Aaron Verzosa of Archipelago (Seattle)
Emerging Chef
Ahmed Suliman of Cafe Suliman (Seattle)
Best New Restaurant
Little Beast (Seattle)
The Wayland Mill (Seattle)
Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific
Janet Becerra of Pancita (Seattle)
Johnny Courtney of Atoma (Seattle)
Logan Cox of Homer (Seattle)
Jordan Koplowitz of Starla’s (Bellingham)
Melissa Miranda of Musang (Seattle)
Thai Nguyen and Trinh Nguyen of Ramie (Seattle)
Aaron Tekulve of Surrell (Seattle)
Outstanding Bar
Roquette (Seattle)
Best New Bar
The Elbow Room (Vancouver)
Outstanding Wine or other Beverages Programs
Le Caviste (Seattle)
Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service
Anu Apte of Rob Roy (Seattle)
Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker
Christina Wood of Temple Pastries (Seattle)
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated that James Beard Awards semifinalists will be announced on March 15, 2026. They will be announced on March 31, 2026.
Tan Vinh: 206-515-5656 or tvinh@seattletimes.com. Tan Vinh is a food writer for The Seattle Times and the original host of “Seattle Eats,” a podcast from KUOW.
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