For the second consecutive year, all the James Beard Awards semifinalists in Arkansas are in Northwest Arkansas. The state’s three semifinals are chef Matthew Cooper of Conifer in Bentonville, chef Jason Paul of Heirloom at The 1907 in Rogers, and Rogers-based Onyx Coffee Lab.
The James Beard Foundation announced Jan. 21 its Restaurant and Chef Awards semifinalists for the 2026 James Beard Awards.
This is also the second consecutive year that Cooper has been named a semifinalist. Cooper and Paul are semifinalists in the Best Chef: South category. Onyx is a semifinalist in the Outstanding Bar category, which includes wine bars, beer bars, cocktail bars, coffee bars, or any other business whose primary offering is beverages. Cooper went on to be a nominee in the Best Chef: South category in the 2025 James Beard Awards…