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A view of the James Beard award on display during the 2025 James Beard Media Awards on June 14, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois.<\/p>\n
Jeff Schear<\/p>\n
Getty Images for James Beard Foundation<\/p>\n
The James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards have been announced, and two Georgia restaurants have landed on this prestigious list.<\/p>\n
This prize is one of the culinary world\u2019s most closely watched honors and recognizes excellence in the restaurant industry. They are often described as the \u201cOscars of the culinary arts,\u201d and two Atlanta spots made the cut for 2026.<\/p>\n
The Georgia nomineesAria – Outstanding Hospitality<\/p>\n
Aria is an upscale Buckhead restaurant centered on modern American cooking and seasonal ingredients, with menus that change daily to match what\u2019s freshest.<\/p>\n
Founded in 2000 by chef and restaurateur Gerry Klaskala, the restaurant carries that original vision forward under longtime general manager and owner Andr\u00e9s Loaiza, focusing on memorable food, wine and hospitality.<\/p>\n
J. Trent Harris – Best Chef: Southeast<\/p>\n
Muj\u014d is a one-Michelin-star modern Edomae-style sushiya inspired by the Japanese idea of ichigo ichie, \u201cone time, one meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rather than follow a traditional sushiya format, it offers an omakase-only experience with a daily changing menu of seasonal ingredients, fish flown in from Japan, small plates, seasonal nigiri and additional specialty items.<\/p>\n
The James Beard Awards<\/p>\n
Founded in 1990, the James Beard Awards are among the nation\u2019s most prestigious culinary honors. The awards recognize chefs, restaurateurs and other food-industry leaders across several categories.<\/p>\n
Outstanding categoryRestaurateurChefRestaurantBakeryHospitalityBarProfessional in Beverage ServiceProfessional in Cocktail ServiceBest of CategoryNew RestaurantChef: NortheastChef: Mid-AtlanticChef: SouthChef: MidwestBet Chef: SouthwestChef: WestChef: New York StateChef: Southeast.Chef: Great Lakes.Chef: California.Chef: Texas.Chef: Pacific Northwest.Emerging Chef categorySee the resultsThe winners<\/p>\n
The winners of the 2026 Restaurant and Chef Awards will be announced June 15 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. The James Beard Foundation says the announcement will be part of the ceremony in Chicago, where the results will be revealed live.<\/p>\n
How to follow<\/p>\n
You can find the winners on the James Beard Foundation\u2019s official website and awards pages, which post nominee and winner updates. The foundation\u2019s awards page also lists the ceremony date and the latest key announcements, so that is the best place to check June 15 for the full results.<\/p>\n
Have you eaten at a James Beard award-winning restaurant? Tell me all about it. Email me at srose@ledger-enquirer.com or find me on social media.<\/p>\n
This story was originally published April 7, 2026 at 6:00 AM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A view of the James Beard award on display during the 2025 James Beard Media Awards on June 14, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. Jeff Schear Getty Images for James Beard Foundation The James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards have been announced, and two Georgia restaurants have landed on this prestigious list. This prize is one<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16534,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2963,2961,2959,2962,2960],"class_list":["post-30474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-georgia","tag-georgia","tag-georgia-dining","tag-georgia-food","tag-georgia-grocery-stores","tag-georgia-restaurants"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dc\/117330456288899010","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}