#oakland-restaurants

#oakland-restaurants

On Wednesday, Jan. 21, the James Beard Foundation (JBF) announced the 2026 James Beard Award semifinalists. These annual awards, the JBF site proclaims, "represent the pinnacle of culinary recognition in the U.S." East Bay culinary artists, once again, made the cut. This long lead announcement provokes the public's interest for the better part of six months. Finalist info arrives on March 31 followed by a June 15 winner-take-all ceremony in Chicago.

All the pieces matter. That's what model-building, detail-oriented Baltimore police detective Lester Freamon said in HBO's The Wire. It's true in criminal investigations, and perhaps even more salient for restaurants.

I am a creature of habit and of comfort. This is not to say I'm an unadventurous eater; I'll give almost anything a try, so long as it doesn't include goat cheese or Brazil nuts. (The former is a taste thing, the latter a nonsensical allergy.) Left to my own devices, however, I return again and again to the things I know and love: my favorite feel-good movies, the same local coffee shop, the same old hotels in the same old cities.