On Tuesday, March 31, the James Beard Foundation announced its list of finalists for its annual restaurant and chef awards for 2026. The long list of semifinalists dropped back in January, which saw 11 semifinalists nominated across six categories. This time around, three semifinalists mov ed on as finalists for this year’s awards. Nominees were announced via Instagram stories on the James Beard Foundation account, starting at 7:30 a.m. PT. Scotch Lodge snagged a finalist slot in the Outstanding Bar category. The popular subterranean bar opened in 2019, with a dedicated focus on whisky and food from chef Tim Artale. The bar racked up plenty of accolades in its opening year, receiving the title of Bar of the Year from Portland Monthly and a Best New Restaurant nod from the Oregonian in 2019. Notably, Scotch Lodge was also a finalist in the Outstanding Bar category in 2025, with Kumiko in Chicago ultimately winning the prize. Meanwhile, Portland landed two finalists in the Best Chef: Northwest Pacific category — Thomas Pisha-Duffly of Gado Gado and Ryan Roadhouse of Nodoguro. This is also the second year in a row that Pisha-Duffly and Roadhouse were selected as semifinalists in this category in 2025; Roadhouse ultimately moved on as a finalist, but he eventually lost out to Timothy Wastell of Antica Terra in Amity. Despite that, Roadhouse had a big year, as he moved Nodoguro to its new downtown location in June 2025. Not to be outdone, Gado Gado had a viral social media moment in the sun last summer when TikTok food critic Keith Lee heaped praise on the Indonesian-inspired restaurant in July 2025. The announcement comes amid a fresh reckoning with kitchen abuse in the fine dining world, prompted by a New York Times investigation of the internationally acclaimed Noma chef René Redzepi. Since the article’s publication, one of Noma’s chief critics and organizers of the campaign drawing attention to Redzepi’s alleged behavior, Jason Ignacio White, has called on others to come forward with their experiences at James Beard-nominated and Michelin-starred restaurants. For its part, the JBFA underwent an audit and established systems aimed at identifying bad actors and establishing more diverse and transparent awards, following its own reckoning in 2020 that partially contributed to the cancellation of the awards. Notably, that system has also faced criticism for its methods in the years since its implementation.  What unfolds next is anyone’s guess, but it remains undeniable that getting a semifinalist nod, let alone being named a finalist or a winner of a James Beard Awards is a feather in the cap of any restaurant or chef and a high water mark in the careers of many industry professionals. The 2026 winners will be announced at a ceremony at the Lyric Opera of Chicago on Monday, June 15. Below are Oregon’s 2026 finalists for the James Beard Awards: Outstanding Bar Scotch Lodge Best Chef: Northwest Pacific (AK, HI, OR, WA) Thomas Pisha-Duffly, Gado Gado Ryan Roadhouse, Nodoguro ...read more read less