James Beard Awards Honor 6 Immortal Diners Defying Culinary Death Since 1927
KEY POINTS
- •The James Beard Foundation announced six America’s Classics winners for 2026, honoring enduring, family-run restaurants.
- •Finalists for Restaurant and Chef Awards arrive March 31, with media nominees unveiled May 6, ceremonies from June 13-15 in Chicago.
- •Awardees include iconic spots from Inglewood, Philadelphia, Omaha, Kingston, Wheeling, and Las Vegas, highlighting regional culinary heritage.
In 2026's James Beard Awards, six legendary eateries took the crown for being America's Classics—aka, food cultural archives where time forgot to order renovations. From The Serving Spoon in Inglewood, feeding LA’s Black community for 40+ years since Harold E. Sparks started dishing in 1983, to Johnny’s Cafe in Omaha, open 103 years, serving Polish vinaigrette and complimentary peppery cottage cheese like they invented snack time. Philly's Oyster House crushed it with fried oysters and sherried snapper soup, keeping old-school seafood vibes alive. Over in Kingston, Eng’s Chinese Restaurant has been dishing egg rolls and pu pu platters since 1927 under different owners for half a century! Figaretti’s has been serving coal miner-loved homemade spaghetti sauce since 1948, and Bob Taylor's Ranch House in Vegas has been an off-strip steak and seafood oasis since 1955—basically a culinary time capsule for anyone nostalgic for neon-less Vegas days. These spots survived revolutions, food trends, and Yelp rants, proving old food is the new black.
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Congrats to joints barely changed since the Roaring Twenties, still serving pickled nostalgia with a side of peppery cottage cheese dip.
When your restaurant’s been family-run for over a century, a Yelp 1-star feels like a family betrayal, grandma’s honor on the line.
James Beard Awards: where surviving fried oysters, homemade sausage, and 1927 egg rolls earns you a culinary crown, not a health inspection.
Source: Eater | Published: 2/25/2026 | Author: Bettina Makalintal
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