Pizzeria Verità, Pizza Grace and Others Get Nods From James Beard Foundation

Masters in the art of pizza are tucked into the James Beard Foundation’s list of semifinalists, announced this week ahead of the coveted 2026 James Beard Awards. During the next round, nominees will be announced March 31, with winners celebrated June 15 at the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards Ceremony in Chicago.

Outstanding Restaurateur Semifinalists

The list of semifinalists in the Outstanding Restaurateur category includes Leslie McCrorey Wells, co-owner of Pizzeria Verità, Trattoria Delia and Sotto Enoteca in Burlington, Vermont. Pizzeria Verità offers Neapolitan pizzas and maintains a dedicated gluten-free pizza oven onsite. The pizzeria also has a mobile wood-fired pizza oven to serve Neapolitan pizzas at catering events within 35 miles of Burlington. As of the fall, Wells was rumored to be opening an Italian café and market called Alimentari.

Elizabeth Blau is the founder of Blau + Associates, which operates Buddy V’s Ristorante and Honey Salt, both in Las Vegas. Both properties serve pizza, with Buddy V’s located in the Venetian hotel and Honey Salt operating in the Summerlin neighborhood of Las Vegas. At Honey Salt, Margherita, Truffle and Capicola & Hot Honey Pizzas are on the sharing menu. Meanwhile, Buddy V’s offers four types of “artisan-style” pizza, stretched to order.

Frank Callero, Kara Callero, Joe Flamm and Steven Zaleski’s restaurant il Carciofo serves pizzas featuring elevated toppings such as pumpkin and pistachio pesto. The eatery is part of the Chicago-based Day of Group selected as a semifinalist for Outstanding Restaurateur by the James Beard Foundation. (Note: Pizza Today called out pistachio as one of its “hot pizza toppings in 2026” in the Pizzeria Industry Trends Report. Sign up for our webinar to get other insights about coming trends.)

Outstanding Chef

Peter Pastan, owner of 2 Amy’s pizzeria in Washington, D.C., is a semifinalist for the foundation’s Outstanding Chef award. Notably, he’s also the only pizza maker in the category. 2 Amy’s serves Neapolitan pizzas such as Marinara and Margherita as well as Neo-Neapolitan versions with sausage, anchovy and fried eggplant. The “NoAmys” pie is simply dough, salt and olive oil.

Outstanding Restaurant Presented by Acqua Panna Natural Spring Water

Twenty semifinalists are vying for winner of the longest award name. Among them? Blackbird Kitchen in Bozeman, Montana. The eatery’s menu changes regularly but includes pizzas such as Margherita, Diavola (featuring Soppressata and Calabrian Chiles) and Mostarda, topped with Prosciutto, apple mostarda and arugula.

Outstanding Bakery

In addition to being a semifinalist for Outstanding Bakery, Niedlov’s Bakery Café in Chattanooga, Tennessee, hosts a weekly pizza night each Friday evening. The menu includes pizzas made from high-hydration dough mixed from organic whole grains and fermented up to 72 hours.

Not one to miss out on the Friday night fun, Portland, Maine-based bakery Night Moves also offers a Friday pizza night featuring 14-inch pies made with naturally leavened dough. Options include cheese, pepperoni, pizza rossa and a rotating veggie special such as oyster mushroom, breadcrumbs, red onion and basil with tomato sauce.

Charleston, South Carolina-based Weltons Tiny Bakeshop offers a Focaccia Pizza topped with Parmigiano Reggiano, tomato sauce and chili garlic oil for just $10. The semifinalist for Outstanding Bakery also has a daily focaccia offering. Operating in a fewer than 1,000 square feet, Weltons is open from 8 a.m. until it’s sold out.

Outstanding Hospitality

Birmingham, Alabama-based Bottega’s dining room books reservations weeks in advance, but its café is walk-in only, and it serves pizza! The pizza lineup features a golden fingerling potato pie with caramelized onion, farm egg and chili. We could go on, but why mess with perfection?

Also mixing Outstanding Hospitality and pizza is Louie of Clayton, Missouri. The neighborhood mainstay features a wood-burning oven and rotating pizza specials such as pumpkin with ricotta, sage and pepitas.

Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program

New York-based Chambers is a semifinalist in the Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program category, but that doesn’t stop them from serving pizza – for free, no less! Diners who stay for dinner receive a complimentary serving of Sesame Pizza Blanca, which more closely resembles sesame-crusted focaccia. Guests who are there for a drink or a snack will pay $5 for the side dish.

One Legged Magpie in Red Lodge, Montana, is home to a scratch kitchen serving five menu pizzas along with a “Pie of the Week.” The Harvest Moon, a menu staple, is topped with blue cheese, red onion, pear, ricotta, pine nuts, fried sage and honey.

Outstanding Bar

Does the bar Double Chicken Please on New York’s Lower East Side offer pizza? No. Do they have a cocktail called Cold Pizza? YES! Oh, and they are a semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation’s Outstanding Bar award. In addition to cocktail standards such as tequila and egg whites, Cold Pizza is made with Parmigiano Reggiano, burnt toast, tomato and basil.

Best New Bar

Less than two months after it opened, Bar Bucce received a score of 8.1 from Dave Portnoy in his One Bite Pizza Reviews. Now, the Miami hotspot is a semifinalist in the Best New Bar category of the James Beard Awards. What a year!

Detroit-based Bar Chenin is a wine bar offering Instagram-worthy pan pizzas cooked in a tiny oven. Once word of the bar’s semifinalist status gets out, they might need to expand beyond the Siren Hotel.

Roasted Oysters. Hamachi Crudo. Pizza? Houston-based Lees is another semifinalist for Best New Bar, and their elaborate menu of snack foods runs the gamut from $25 steak tartare to $13 Margherita pizza. For the bougie pizza crowd, the $34 Truffle pizza is topped with black truffle, bechamel and king trumpet mushroom.

Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic (DC, DE, MD, NJ, PA, VA)

Matthew Adler is a semifinalist for Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic, thanks to his work at Cucina Morini in Washington, D.C. Among other Italian favorites, Adler offers Sfincione, or house-baked tomato focaccia with roasted garlic oil and wild oregano. Patrons can add anchovies or a half burrata.

Best Chef: Midwest (IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD, WI)

The wood-fired oven is busy at Ellinor, the Appleton, Wisconsin-based restaurant where chef Adam Marty is a semifinalist for Best Chef: Midwest in the James Beard Awards. In addition to its wood-fired pizzas, Marty also serves Wood Wings in Gochujang glaze and the steak blend Wood Burger.

Best Chef: Mountain (CO, ID, MT, UT, WY)

Looking for the cheapest pizza eats among the James Beard Foundation’s 2026 finalists? Look no further. Odell’s Bagel in Denver offers Pizza Bagels for $2 (cheese) and $2.50 a piece (pepperoni). The catch? You have to buy six. Twist our arms! Miles Odell is a semifinalist for Best Chef in the Mountain region.

Best Chef: Northeast (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT)

Those wishing to try chef Tiara Adorno’s pizzas have from May to mid-October to do so. The James Beard semifinalist for Best Chef: Northeast only serves pizza at The Crooked Ram’s outdoor concept, The Yard, located onsite in Manchester, Vermont. We will just have to wait. …

Owner-operator Luke Fetbroth is a semifinalist in this category for his work at Boston’s Tonino. The neighborhood shop in the Jamaica Plain area serves pasta and pizza made from ingredients sourced with intention.

As one would expect from a restaurant called Fancy’s, chef Paul Trombly serves up croquettes and clams at the eatery in Burlington, Vermont. But come Sundays, it’s Pizza Night at Fancy’s, as Trombly collaborates with area bakers and chefs to mix up the menu.

Best Chef: Northwest & Pacific (AK, HI, OR, WA)

Pizza in paradise? Michele Di Bari answers the question with Sale Pepe, a pizzeria in Maui that uses flour, mozzarella, olive oil and tomatoes imported from Italy. Di Bari is a semifinalist for Best Chef: Northwest & Pacific.

Another semifinalist in the category, Jordan Koplowitz, operates pizza and natural wine spot Starla’s in Bellingham, Washington. After finding success with the Seattle pop-up Blotto, Koplowitz is trying to capture lightning in a bottle once again. Judging by his semifinalist status, we’d say it’s working.

Cafe Olli in Portland, Oregon, advertises everything you’d associate with a Stumptown restaurant: seasonally focused, locally sourced and employee owned. What’s more? Chefs Taylor Manning and Siobhan Speirits are semifinalists for the James Beard Awards’ Best Chef: Northwest & Pacific.

Best Chef: South (AL, AR, FL, LA, MS, PR)

Geri-Martha O’Hara and Ryan O’Hara, whose Birmingham, Alabama-based pizzeria, Pizza Grace, received Michelin Guide’s Bib Gourmand designation for cuisine of excellent value in 2025, are semifinalists in James Beard’s Best Chef: South category. Pizza Grace offers 100% naturally leavened sourdough pies topped with seasonal ingredients.

Best Chef: Southeast (GA, KY, NC, SC, TN, WV)

Colin Marcelli is making beautiful pizzas in a beautiful location: Renzo, a historic storefront in Charleston, South Carolina. The executive chef is a semifinalist for Best Chef: Southeast who combines a seasonal, scratch kitchen with the owners’ interest in natural wine.

Best Chef: Southwest (AZ, NM, NV, OK)

Chef Danny Calleros makes pastas, breads and pizza dough in-house at Ardovino’s Desert Crossing, which hosts farmers markets in Sunland Park, New Mexico. In addition to his popular brunch menu, Calleros specializes in specialty wood-fired pies such as the Full House Pizza, which is light on the Uncle Jesse and heavy on the New Mexico green chili. Have mercy!