Two James Beard finalists named
E.J. Lagasse, son of Emeril Lagasse, was named a finalist for Best Emerging Chef at the 2026 James Beard Awards in local reporting out April 13 (heraldnews.com). Separately, Earl Reynolds of Whitefish was named a Best Chef finalist for the second time in his career, according to local Montana coverage (kpax.com).
Two chefs with ties to very different food scenes — New Orleans and Whitefish, Montana — are now finalists for the 2026 James Beard Awards. (jamesbeard.org) The James Beard Foundation announced its restaurant and chef finalists on March 31, and winners are scheduled to be revealed June 15 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. (jamesbeard.org) E.J. Lagasse was named a finalist for Emerging Chef, a national category, for his work at Emeril’s in New Orleans. The foundation’s finalist list names five chefs in that category. (jamesbeard.org) Lagasse is chef and co-owner of Emeril’s, the New Orleans flagship his father opened in 1990. He returned to lead the restaurant in 2022, and the restaurant says it reopened after a major renovation in 2023 with a refined Louisiana-focused menu. (emeril.org, emerilsrestaurant.com) Michelin gave Emeril’s two stars in 2025, and the guide said Lagasse had become the youngest chef to lead a two-star kitchen. Michelin said he had trained at Le Bernardin, Core by Clare Smyth, Frantzén and Café Boulud before returning to New Orleans. (guide.michelin.com) In Montana, Earl Reynolds was named a finalist for Best Chef in the Mountain region for Herb & Omni in Whitefish. The regional Best Chef awards cover 12 parts of the country, and the Mountain field includes Montana, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming. (kpax.com, jamesbeard.org) KPAX reported that Reynolds is a Whitefish native and that this is his second time as a James Beard finalist. He previously reached the finals in 2023 while working as executive chef at Stone Hill Kitchen and Bar in Bigfork. (kpax.com) Reynolds told KPAX that Herb & Omni’s food is New American and built around ingredients from local farmers and ranchers in northwest Montana. He said the nomination was also recognition for his kitchen team. (kpax.com) The two nominations show how the Beard finalists mix national categories with regional ones: Lagasse is competing in a single nationwide Emerging Chef field, while Reynolds is competing inside the Mountain region’s Best Chef slate. The awards have been one of the foundation’s top restaurant honors for nearly four decades. (jamesbeard.org) The next date on the calendar is June 15, when the foundation is set to announce whether either finalist turns a late-March nod into a James Beard win. (jamesbeard.org)
