Boise lands two finalists for James Beard Awards: This restaurant and this bar
Boise has landed two finalists in this year’s prestigious James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards.
Ansots Basque Chorizos & Catering has been nominated for Outstanding Hospitality.
And Bar Please! received the nod in the Best New Bar category.
Each now has a chance to achieve a rare honor for Idaho: an actual James Beard Award. No other Gem State chef, restaurant or bar made the finalist cut in 2026. The James Beard Foundation revealed this year’s list Tuesday morning.
Since opening six years ago at 560 W. Main St., Ansots has served traditional Basque cuisine with a focus on chorizos. A key player on the Boise food scene for more than four decades, co-owner Dan Ansotegui founded Bar Gernika in 1991, then the Basque Market eight years later. Ansotegui is a three-time Best Chef: Mountain semifinalist in the James Beard Awards.
Bar Please!, 620 W. Idaho St., opened in 2024. The cocktail destination is in the same building as Thick as Thieves, a modern-day speakeasy with the same owners: Adam and Amanda Hanby. It describes itself as “a neighborhood bar in downtown Boise.”
The James Beard Awards are sometimes referred to as the Oscars of the culinary world. Idaho has only three wins in the history of the awards, which were established in 1990. Two were in the Best Chef: Mountain category: Kris Komori, co-owner of Kin in downtown Boise, in 2023; and Salvador Alamilla, co-owner of Amano in Caldwell, in 2025. (Neither man qualified this year; no chef can be on the ballot in the same category for five years after winning.)
The Pioneer Saloon in Ketchum also was one of six restaurants honored with a 2025 America’s Classics Award.
Ansots and Bar Please! are competing in national categories. Each category has four other nominees for the James Beard Award in Outstanding Hospitality and Best New Bar.
Idaho had a total of five semifinalists this year, all from Boise. The other three were in the regional Best Chef: Mountain division: Cal Elliott of The Avery, 1010 W. Main St.; Nathan Whitley of Terroir, 160 N. 8th St.; and Alex Cardoza of Susina, 1621 N. Orchard St.
This year’s James Beard Award winners will be crowned June 15 during a ceremony at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
This story was originally published March 31, 2026 at 10:18 AM.