Columbus Monthly’s Best New Restaurants party at Vitria
Columbus Monthly celebrated its Best New Restaurants picks at a March 18 event. Check out the sights and sounds of the event.
Columbus’ Dan the Baker is no longer in the running for a 2026 James Beard Award.
The Columbus bakery at 1042 Ridge St. near Grandview Heights was left off the list of finalists announced March 31 by the James Beard Foundation, which sponsors the annual awards for the best in the American hospitality industry.
Dan the Baker, owned by 19-year professional baker Dan Riesenberger, was the only central Ohio nominee among James Beard semifinalists announced in January for award categories that include restaurants, restaurateurs, chefs, bars and beverage professionals.
Ohioans dominated the Best Chef: Great Lakes category of finalists, though. Vinnie Cimino of Cordelia in Cleveland, Sarah Dworak of Sudova in Cincinnati, and Jeffrey Harris of Nolia Kitchen in Cincinnati were among five people still in the running for that honor. The other two are both Chicagoans: Norman Fenton of Carino and Jacob Potashnick of Feld.
Finalists in the bakery category were businesses in Door County, Wisconsin; Anchorage, Alaska; Bethlehem, New Hampshire; Charleston, South Carolina; and Bozeman, Montana.
Riesenberger’s bakery at 1042 Ridge St. has been recognized before on stages beyond central Ohio, though. A 2024 Food & Wine article that listed Columbus among the nation’s best bakery cities recommended Dan the Baker’s sugar-dusted cruffins and cardamom knots.
Neither is on this week’s menu at Dan the Baker, but other seasonal cruffins, cinnamon-orange morning buns, everything-dusted baguettes, cornflake marshmallow cookies and other baked goods are.
While they last.
Follow Dispatch dining reporter Bob Vitale on Instagram at @dispatchdining. You can reach him directly at [email protected].
