Seven Maine restaurateurs, chefs and bakers earned semifinalist nominations Wednesday morning for the 2026 James Beard Awards.

The nominations include national category nods for Outstanding Restaurateur and Outstanding Bakery, as well as five of the 20 total nominations for Best Chef: Northeast.

Dana Street, founder of Fore Street, Scales, Standard Baking Co. and other venues, is listed among contenders across the country for Outstanding Restaurateur, while Night Moves Bread of South Portland was named among the Outstanding Bakery semifinalists.

The Best Chef: Northeast category included nominations for Jeremy Broucek of Bread & Friends; Thomas Takashi Cooke of Izakaya Minato; Chris Gould of Central Provisions; Sara Jenkins of Nina June in Rockport; and Jake Stevens of Leeward. Stevens has been a semifinalist in this category for the past three years.

“I’ve seen a lot of people over the years who get nominated a few times and then tastes move on, there are new exciting restaurants and chefs that comes around,” said Stevens, noting that Leeward was also a finalist for Best New Restaurant in 2022. “I felt that way — we’ve had a good run, and now it’s somebody else’s turn. So I didn’t really expect it this year.

“I’m so ecstatic to be in such amazing company. The field of semifinalists from Maine is so strong,” Stevens added, noting that he’s been serving bread from Night Moves, owned by head baker Kerry Hanney, since Leeward launched in March 2020. “Our two trajectories have been along parallel tracks, and to see her nominated brings such joy to my heart.”

Hanney said it was a “total surprise” for Night Moves Bread to be named a semifinalist for Outstanding Bakery. “I certainly wasn’t expecting it. Jake Stevens from Leeward texted me to say congratulations, and I was like, ‘Wait, what?’ I’m so thankful, and it’s such an honor to be seen in this way. We have an amazing team.”

Asked what she thought impressed the Beard judges about Night Moves, Hanney said she believes it’s among a “new generation” of bakeries working with local grains and “pushing the boundaries in baking.”

Gould, reached while on a trip to Costa Rica, said he thought his window for being nominated had closed.

“I’ve been doing this a long time, cooking for 26 years, and this is Central’s 13th year. I haven’t even been following the James Beard Awards for the last five years. I figured if I was going to get nominated, I already would have.

“It’s nice to get recognized, for sure,” Gould continued. “It’s a huge team effort. The work we put in is tremendous, and it doesn’t stop.”

The James Beard Award finalists will be announced April 1, with the award ceremony slated for June 15 in Chicago.