Photograph of Sarah Dworak by Catherine Grace, Jeffery Harris by Jeremy Kramer, David Willocks courtesy The Baker's Table
The 2026 James Beard Awards finalists are out, and three Greater Cincinnati chefs are heading to Chicago this summer. Sarah Dworak of Sudova and Jeffery Harris of Nolia Kitchen are two of the five chefs nationally who made the short list in the “Best Chef: Great Lakes (IL, IN, MI, OH)” category while David Willocks of The Baker’s Table is among the five chefs nominated in the “Best Chef: Southeast (GA, KY, NC, SC, TN, WV)” category.
Harris is a repeat nominee—he was nominated in the “Best Chef: Great Lakes” category in 2024, and his restaurant Nolia Kitchen was nominated in and a finalist for the “Best New Restaurant” category in 2023—while this is Willocks’s and Dworak’s first nominations.
“I feel overwhelmed with pride and shock at the same time,” says Dworak, who owned Wódka Bar in Over-the-Rhine before closing the establishment and opening Sudova on Court Street downtown in August 2024. “It’s such recognition for Cincinnati with three chefs making it to the finals.”
The James Beard Awards has been the country’s most prestigious culinary awards program since 1990. “As we mark 40 years of the James Beard Foundation, we’re reminded of just how vital it is to celebrate and champion the people driving American food culture forward,” said Clare Reichenbach, CEO of the James Beard Foundation, in a press release. “From the industry professionals defining our dining landscape to the advocates shaping our food system, their work is a testament to the talent, leadership, and care that make food such a powerful force in our lives.”
“The funny thing about the James Beard Awards is it’s something that you can’t try to have happen,” says Willocks, whose nomination marks the first for Northern Kentucky (the closest nomination to the area was the Holly Hill Inn nomination in the “Outstanding Hospitality” category in 2025). “We’re just trying to do great work. We feel really grateful and really fortunate.”
Dworak hopes her nomination will serve as an inspiration to other female chefs in the area. She’s the fourth woman nominated for a James Beard, after Suzy DeYoung of La Soupe in 2018, Elaine Uykimpang Bentz of Cafe Mochiko in 2022 and 2023, and Yuko Harada of Kiki in 2023. “Seeing women working in the Eastern European food space are those who inspired me to continue building my business,” she adds. “Representation makes all the difference and is so powerful.”
Willocks while his name is on the nomination, he sees the honor as a team accomplishment. “I personally perceive this as being a team award,” he adds. “I congratulated every one of my team. There’s no world in which a single chef achieves anything great.”
The annual Restaurant and Chef Awards ceremony will take place on Monday, June 15, at the Lyric Opera in Chicago.
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