2026 James Beard Awards name 10 semifinalists in Georgia

The 2026 James Beard Award semifinalists were announced Wednesday morning with 10 Georgia restaurants, chefs, bars and beverage professionals appearing on the list.

They include:

Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker

• Claudia Martinez, Bar Ana, Atlanta

Outstanding Hospitality

• Aria, Atlanta

Best New Bar

• Madeira Park, Atlanta
• Lucky Star, Atlanta

Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service

• Taurean Philpott, Avize, Atlanta

Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service

• Miles Macquarrie, Kimball House, Decatur

Best Chef: Southeast

• Carlo Gan and Mia Orino, Kamayan ATL, Chamblee
• J. Trent Harris, Mujō, Atlanta
• Freddy Money, Atlas, Buckhead
• Todd Schafer, Abel Brown, Augusta

First time semifinalists include Taurean Philpott of Avize; Lucky Star, a Taiwanese cocktail bar and restaurant from chef Jason Liang that opened November 2024; Madeira Park, a wine bar from the Miller Union team that opened in February 2025; Freddy Money of Atlas; and Todd Schafer of Abel Brown in Augusta, Georgia.

The list includes several chefs and restaurants that have been recognized in the past, including Carlo Gan and Mia Orino who were 2022 James Beard Award semifinalists in the Emerging Chef category for their Filipino restaurant Kamayan; Claudia Martinez, who was a 2022 semifinalist for the Outstanding Pastry Chef category during her tenure at Miller Union; and Aria, which advanced to the finalist round for the Outstanding Hospitality category last year.

Aria was the only Georgia restaurant named a finalist in 2025, an honor received just before longtime owner and chef Gerry Klaskala retired, but did not ultimately win.

This is Martinez’s first nomination since opening Bar Ana, a cocktail and dessert bar in Atlanta’s Poncey-Highland neighborhood, late last year.

Semifinalists react

Kirk Gibson, beverage director at Lucky Star, said he checks the James Beard Award semifinalist list every year to see which of his Atlanta colleagues made it. He was shocked to see Lucky Star appear this year.

“I was totally surprised, I did not expect this whatsoever,” he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “(I’m) just overwhelmed with gratitude for all the hard work that everyone’s put in who’s currently with us and formerly with us. We feel grateful, we feel incredibly excited. Honestly, I know it’s a cliche, but it’s just an honor to get nominated.”

Gibson suspects that the cocktail omakase program they launched in June has helped earn the restaurant its first James Beard nod with its innovative drinks and food pairings from chef Jason Liang. Nearly every seat for the omakase services gets booked, and Gibson said they hope to add even more seats soon.

“It was years and years of work for drinks that aren’t scalable, and I was really proud of that (omakase) menu,” he said. “Just seeing that, even in the eight months or so that we’ve launched it, I think I’ve grown as a bartender, or managed to still have a creative offering for guests.”

Chef Freddy Money of the Buckhead fine-dining staple Atlas is no stranger to awards; his avant-garde cooking earned the restaurant a spot on the AJC’s Atlanta 50 and a Michelin Star. But this is his first James Beard Award nomination.

“I feel very thrilled and grateful,” Money told the AJC. “With all of these awards in the hospitality world, it’s a nod and validation on everyone’s hard work.”

Under Money’s leadership, Atlas has become a hub for aspiring chefs thanks to an externship program that is currently hosting 14 young professionals. Money credited the restaurant’s unique space at the St. Regis Atlanta hotel for providing the opportunity to “educate and innovate.”

Claudia Martinez said she intentionally didn’t look up the announcement — she assumed someone would call her to let her know, until she realized her phone was on do not disturb.

While this is Martinez’s second time as a James Beard Award semifinalist, it’s her first time connected to a concept that she helped to create. In fact, Bar Ana just hit two months of being open this week.

“If anything, it feels better because it’s something we’ve been working hard on,” she said. “It feels good, and for my business partner to allow me to do this space with him, I think it’s also like, I’m able to prove to him and everybody else it’s a concept that works.”