The San Francisco Bay Area had three finalists in the running for the country’s top culinary awards but came up empty when the James Beard Foundation medallions were bestowed on chefs, restaurateurs and others at a Monday evening ceremony in Chicago.

The last time the region finished out of the medals was in 2016.

In the national categories, modern French pastry chef Margarita Manzke, of Republique in Los Angeles, won for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker over a field of finalists that included Vince Bugtong of Abaca in San Francisco (formerly of Oakland’s dessert and cocktail bar, Viridian). Manzke had been nominated five times previously.

Ototo, a Los Angeles sake bar, took home the Beard award in the expanded category of Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program, beating out Lazy Bear of San Francisco and three other finalists.

And in the regional Best Chef: California contest, chef-owner Justin Pichetrungsi of Anajak Thai Restaurant in L.A.’s Sherman Oaks neighborhood won the award over Kyle and Katina Connaughton of Healdsburg’s Michelin-starred SingleThread and three Los Angeles finalists. Pichetrungsi was working as an art director in 2019 when his father became ill and had to step away from his kitchen role of 38 years. “I’m carrying on the legacy,” he said in his acceptance speech.

San Francisco wasn’t the only celebrated dining capital to be shut out of the JBFs. For the second straight year, no New Orleans chefs won awards, according to NOLA.com. Minneapolis also was shut out, after winning the Best New Restaurant award in 2022, the Star Tribune reported.

The Philadelphia dining scene, however, had its best showing since 2017, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Chef Chad Williams’ seasonal New American restaurant — Friday Saturday Sunday — was named Outstanding Restaurant, and Ellen Yin of the High Street Hospitality Group took home the Outstanding Restaurateur award. That one is given to an entrepreneur who demonstrates integrity in both the workplace and the community. The regional Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic award went to “Nok” Suntaranon of the Thai restaurant Kalaya.

This ceremony was just the second Beards since 2019. The awards had gone on hiatus in 2020 and 2021, with the foundation citing the pandemic-caused disruption to the industry. In the interim, the group pledged to work toward its stated objectives to “remove any systemic bias, increase the diversity of the pool of candidates, maintain relevance, and align the awards more outwardly with the foundation’s values of equity, equality, sustainability, and excellence for the restaurant industry.”

During that time, the foundation established a code of ethics as a guideline for all entrants, semifinalists and nominees, as well as its voting body. An independent volunteer ethics committee was set up to provide oversight.

“I remain tremendously proud of our progress,” said Oakland chef and author Tanya Holland, speaking at Monday’s ceremony as chair of the Awards Committee and a James Beard Foundation trustee. She was joined onstage by Clare Reichenbach, CEO of the James Beard Foundation, and the four co-hosts for the event, “Top Chef” judge Gail Simmons; former “Top Chef” contestant Eric Adjepong, who explores the foods of West Africa; Korean American chef-influencer Esther Choi; and TV host and chef Andrew Zimmern.

“Great food is a collaborative effort,” Simmons said, asking the audience to join her in applauding “the people growing, picking and transporting our food,” along with the restaurant employees who work in front and in back of the house.

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Overall, a diverse collection of chefs won Beard medallions on Monday. Natalia Vallejo became the first Puerto Rico resident to receive an award, winning as Best Chef: South. She is the chef-owner of Cocina al Fondo in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Best Chef: Northeast honoree was indigenous chef Sherry Pocknett of the Rhode Island restaurant Sly Fox Den Too. “This is something I never even dreamed of,” she said, noting that the award came on the birthday of her grandmother, one of her mentors.

The prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award went to trailblazing Indo-American chef and cookbook author Madhur Jaffrey, who has been writing recipes since 1973. The Humanitarian of the Year award was given to the co-founders of the Black Farmer Fund, Olivia Watkins and Karen Washington.