Triangle chefs are up for high honors at the James Beard Awards. The nominees

A new Raleigh restaurant and two of the Triangle’s top chefs are up for some of the biggest awards in the food world.

On Wednesday, Jan. 21, the James Beard Foundation announced the semifinalist list of its coveted chef and restaurant awards for 2026. Among them are nine semifinalists from North Carolina, including three from the Triangle.

Raleigh James Beard award semifinalists

Herons’ chef Steven Devereaux Greene and Ajja chef Cheetie Kumar are each up for Best Chef: Southeast.

Approaching its first year anniversary, Peregrine in Raleigh is a semifinalist for Best New Restaurant, a national award.

North Carolina chefs compete in the Southeast region, which also includes South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, West Virginia and Tennessee.

What are James Beard Awards?

Often compared to the Oscars of the food world, the James Beard Awards are the most recognizable honors bestowed on restaurants in America. The awards distinguish chefs and restaurants cooking at the highest levels in the industry, but often also making positive impacts on their communities.

North Carolina’s chefs and restaurants have won several James Beard Awards over the years, with Durham chef Ricky Moore the most recent winner for his Saltbox Seafood Joint in 2022.

Other Triangle winners include Andrea Reusing and Ben Barker for Best Chef: Southeast in 2011 and 2000, respectively, and national awards for Magnolia Grill co-owner Karen Barker in 2003 for Outstanding Pastry Chef and Ashley Christensen in 2019 for Outstanding Chef.

Triangle semifinalists

Between her first restaurant Garland and current hot spot Ajja, this is the sixth semifinalist honor for Kumar, who has twice been a finalist for Best Chef: Southeast. Ajja, which serves a Mediterranean menu of shareable dips, grilled items and dishes, was also previously a semifinalist for Best New Restaurant in the country.

This spring, Kumar will lead a dream team of Raleigh chefs in launching the new neighborhood restaurant Big Cat.

For Greene, who leads fine dining destination Herons, this is his fifth semifinalist mention.

Peregrine opened last April in the new Raleigh development The Exchange. Owned by chef Saif Rahman and designer Patrick Shanahan, Peregrine serves a menu of global flavors rooted in Southern ingredients.

“As a Bengali chef, cooking for 20 years and finally sharing what American food means to me, l’m overwhelmed by the support and how important it feels to be recognized for this,” Rahman said in a released statement. “My first thought was of my father, who believed in me as a chef, and would have kissed me right now. We have dreamed of this, my team and I; seeing their excitement means the world to me.”

Building a restaurant empire out of Asheville, Meherwan and Molly Irani previously won the James Beard award for Outstanding Restaurant in the country, one of the organization’s top honors. Now the couple is up for Outstanding Restaurateur for their Chai Pani restaurant group.

This year, the Chai Pani group will open its first restaurant in the Triangle, as Botiwalla joins Raleigh Iron Works.

Known as the James Beard “long-list,” the semifinalists will be whittled down to nominees on Tuesday, March 31.

Here are the North Carolina nominees, Triangle semifinalists in bold

Outstanding Restaurateur

• Meherwan Irani and Molly Irani, Chai Pani Restaurant Group, Asheville

Outstanding Chef

• Dean Neff, Seabird in Wilmington

Best New Restaurant

• Peregrine, Raleigh

Best Chef: Southeast

• Robin Anthony, Omakase by Prime Fish, Charlotte
• Matt Dawes, The Bull and Beggar, Asheville
• Steven Devereaux Greene, Herons at The Umstead
• Cheetie Kumar, Ajja, Raleigh
• Taylor Montgomery, Montgomery Sky Farm, Leicester

This story has been updated.

This story was originally published January 21, 2026 at 10:28 AM.

Drew Jackson

The News & Observer

919-829-4707

Drew Jackson writes about restaurants and dining for The News & Observer and The Herald-Sun, covering the food scene in the Triangle and North Carolina.