A Pittsburgh area chef and restaurant were honored as semifinalists by the James Beard Foundation for its 2026 Restaurant and Chef Awards.
The semifinalists were announced Wednesday in the prestigious national awards, which recognize “leaders who collectively embody the breadth of American culinary excellence.”
Jamilka Borges, executive chef and co-owner at Lilith in Shadyside, is a semifinalist for Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic, which includes Washington, D.C., Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Lilith, located at 238 Spahr St., offers eclectic coastal-inspired cuisine with food sourced from numerous local farms. The menu includes pasta, seafood and meats, as well as snacks, bread and veggies. There’s an elaborate dessert menu, too.
Borges is one of 20 semifinalists in that category. She was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, before moving to Pittsburgh to attend culinary school, according to her biography on the Lilith website.
She has been a chef at Bar Marco, Spoon, Independent Brewing Company, Hidden Harbor and Lorelei, according to TribLive’s previous reporting.
Lilith’s menu is inspired by Borges’ Puerto Rican heritage and her co-owner and pastry chef Dianne DeStefano Sicilian heritage.
Borges has previously been named a James Beard Rising Star Chef Semifinalist in 2015 and Pittsburgh Magazine’s Chef of the Year in 2018, her biography said. She was also a 2019 James Beard nominee for Best Chef Mid-Atlantic.
Lilith could not be immediately reached Wednesday for comment.
Additionally, the restaurant Apteka in Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield neighborhood is a semifinalist in the Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program category. There are also 20 total semifinalists in that category.
Apteka, located at 4606 Penn Ave., markets itself as an all vegan Central and East European kitchen and bar, according to its Instagram page. It offers a wide selection of retail wine, house-made tinctures and fruit and herb cordials.
Apteka owner Kate Lasky said when she heard about the semifinal nod, she and her partner/co-owner Tomasz Skowronski were excited.
“We’re super honored,” she said. “There’s so much work that happens on staff to make the beverage program great.”
Zach Rihn, part of Apteka’s kitchen crew, forages and curates the wild tea program, including items like bark tea and sycamore leaf, according to Lasky.
“He’s such a talent,” she said. “He has an incredible knowledge of the plant world, especially native Western Pennsylvania plant life.”
Lasky also credited the semifinal nod to Apteka’s former front of house manager, Kolin Smith, who worked there for six years and is a “dear friend.” This weekend will be his last at Apteka, she said.
“We spend a lot of time on the beverage program,” Lasky said. “There’s so much behind the scenes work that goes into this, so we’re really amped.”
Apteka offers around six to eight rotating cocktails that change seasonally, as she said the base ingredients are made in house. Also offered are around five other drinks/nonalcoholic options like sodas and sparkling teas, around four different seasonal teas and coffee.
In terms of alcohol, there’s usually around eight beer options and nine to 12 wine options by the glass, according to Lasky. But there are around 300 different wine bottle titles, including numerous Central and Eastern European wines, as well as a handful of French and Italian selections.
Nominees will be announced on March 31, and winners will be celebrated June 15 at a ceremony at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.