The Main Street tasting menu destination secures a major culinary honor less than two years after opening.
This year’s James Beard Awards have singled out Chef Dave “DC” Beran, who has won the Best Chef California Award for his Santa Monica restaurant, Seline, which opened in December 2024 and is located at 3110 Main Street.
Chef Beran said, in a social media post, “I’m not really sure where to start. A little over a year ago, I wasn’t sure if we’d have two restaurants to celebrate today. The last handful of years have been by far the most challenging of my life, and at points in the last year I woke up some mornings wondering if our fight was really worth continuing..
But then you look around, you see the people that support you, the people that believe in you; those are the people that remind you why you do what you do. I’m so fortunate to have those people in my life.”
Beran has previously won the James Beard Best Chef Great Lakes Award for NEXT in Chicago after being nominated three times, as Best New Chef and Rising Star Chef, before being awarded Best Chef Great Lakes in 2014. He left the restaurant in 2016 to open his own restaurant in Santa Monica.
Next also won the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant, while Beran was executive chef at the restaurant owned by Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas (Alinea).
Seline is described as “A tasting menu experience…Where seasonality meets surrealism.” and as “Our seasonal tasting menu ranges from 14 to 18 courses and will take you on a culinary journey that feels both familiar and unique.”
Beran also owns Pasjoli, a “fun neighborhood French bistro” experience, at 2732 Main Street in Santa Monica.
Other Los Angeles-area James Beard Award winners include Providence, a three-MICHELIN-starred restaurant, for Outstanding Hospitality, and Kato, in Downtown Los Angeles, for Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program. Acclaimed restaurateur, chef and baker, Nancy Silverton (Mozzaplex), is the James Beard Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement honoree for 2026.
Finally, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) was an Impact Award Honoree, and Humanitarian of the Year is No Us Without You – Othón Nolasko and Damián Diaz.
