DeLuxe Cakes & Pastries, an Iowa City bakery that celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2023, has been named an Outstanding Bakery semifinalist in the 2026 James Beard Award competition.
Deluxe Cakes and Pastries was opened in November 2003 by owner and executive pastry chef Jamie Powers. It opened in a building that had long been a neighborhood grocery store, just a few blocks south of a house once owned by famed painter Grant Wood.
The James Beard Awards, presented by Capital One, represent the pinnacle of culinary recognition in the US. Since their inception in 1990, the Restaurant and Chef Awards have made icons out of the nation’s top restaurant and bar professionals. Today, these semifinalists join a constellation of James Beard Award–recognized leaders who collectively embody the breadth of American culinary excellence.
Restaurant and chef nominees will be announced on Tuesday, March 31, and winners will be celebrated at the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards Ceremony on Monday, June 15, 2026 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Other Iowa nominees include The Contrary in Des Moines for Best New Bar and Nick Hanke and Phil Shires of Masao in Des Moines, as well as Ian Robertson of Oak Park in Des Moines, for Best Chef.
Previously, chef Andy Schumacher of Cobble Hill in Cedar Rapids was named a James Beard Award Best Chef semifinalist in both 2015 and 2025.
