Every year since 1991, the James Beard Foundation recognizes outstanding restaurants and chefs, media, and achievements in the culinary arts. These awards celebrate excellence in the culinary industry nationwide.
“They call it the Oscar of the culinary industry,” says Linda Huang, owner of The Hummingbird’s Kitchen in Bozeman.
Huang, a semi-finalist for the 2025 James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Mountain Region, was invited to cook for the 2026 James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards Ceremony in Chicago in June.
Nearly 20 chefs hailing from places across the U.S. were invited to cook at the ceremony, representing an array of cuisines. “It was a really big honor,” Huang says.
She and the other chefs arrived a day before the ceremony to set up commissary kitchens and prepare the food. “All the chefs were there, and everybody was making food at the same time,” she says. “Everyone was just so excited. There was no stress, because these people have been working in kitchens for so long. It was pretty cool.”
Each chef prepared over 1,000 plates of a selected dish to be served at the post-ceremony gala at the Chicago Union Station. Huang prepared a traditional Chinese salad using tofu skins and wood ear mushrooms.
“It was orchestrated so well,” Huang says. “I’m very grateful for my team. Everyone did their best and had a great time.”
Students from the Kendall College of Culinary Arts in Chicago were also present during meal preparation, assisting Huang and the other chefs in their cooking and prep work. “It was really cool for those students, because they normally don’t have an option to work with chefs from the outside,” Huang says.
The evening was bedazzled with excitement; the ceremony and gala filled with award nominees and winners who represent the best in exceptional culinary talent and innovation. Among the attendees were staff from Bozeman’s Wild Crumb, there for the nomination of Outstanding Bakery, and Chef Earl James Reynolds of Herb & Omni in Whitefish, who was nominated for Best Chef in the Mountain Region, which includes Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming.
Winners were announced during the ceremony, with Wild Crumb winning the award for Outstanding Bakery, competing with four other bakeries in Wisconsin, Alaska, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.
Having started her business in Bozeman around the same time as Wild Crumb, in about 2013, Huang says it was very meaningful to participate in the event, represent Montana, and witness a longtime local establishment receiving such accolades. The ceremony was livestreamed for the chefs preparing for the gala, and Huang says when Outstanding Bakery was announced she stopped what she was doing to listen. “I had tears,” she says.
Following the ceremony, attendees enjoyed the gala, with food prepared by Huang and others. With some of the industry’s greatest talent packed into a single room, the atmosphere was rich with respect and jubilation.
“It didn’t matter if you won or lost,” she says. “Everyone knows it’s not easy to get to be there. It was really nice to see that kind of excitement and happiness for each other.”
