Pride, honor, gratitude — all those emotions passed through Chris Kajioka’s mind when he learned that he and Anthony Rush, his partner in the Honolulu restaurant Senia, are finalists for a James Beard Foundation Award.

But perhaps chief among those thoughts: It’s about time.

Not so much for the personal recognition, but for the islands. “It’s been a long time coming for Hawaii,” Kajioka said Tuesday. “Too long.”

The nomination in the category of best chef in the Northwest and Pacific region came Monday.

Only three Hawaii chefs have gone on to win the prestigious James Beard award: Roy Yamaguchi, Alan Wong and George Mavrothalassitis — the latest, in 2007. No one has even been nominated from the state in more than a decade.

“We deserve it. We’re a great, great food city. … Only three people have ever won it in our state, and that’s crazy to me.”

Rush agreed.

“Many places here are not getting the recognition they deserve,” he said. “The food scene here is up and coming, and the bar scene now, too. I love living in Hawaii and eating out here.”

Kajioka is also pleased that he and Rush are nominated as a team, as that partnership has both challenged and inspired them. “I think it adds up to make Senia a special place.”

“We’ve had a couple of years being named semifinalists, so it’s nice to get one step further, especially in these times,” Rush said. Both chefs were quick to credit what Rush called Senia’s “incredible team of people.”

They opened the restaurant in 2017, and it soon became one of Hono­lulu’s most acclaimed restaurants.

“Chris has a strong Asian influence, and myself, a heavily European influence,” Rush said, then added, “But our food is not fusion. It’s hard to say what it is, but we cook what we want to eat and make it as tasty and beautiful as possible.”

Chefs have won the James Beard medal as teams, and this year a husband-wife partnership, Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi of Joule in Seattle, are nominated in the same category as Kajioka and Rush. Also nominated are four Portland, Ore., chefs: Peter Cho of Han Oak, Gregory Gourdet of Departure, Katy Millard of Coquine and Kristen Murray of Maurice.

The two chefs are now working on separate projects.

Rush’s Podmore cocktail lounge is still slated to debut this year in the historic Joseph W. Podmore Building on Merchant Street.

Rush promises drinks unmatched anywhere else. “Our cocktails will have ingredients we created. You can’t buy them anywhere. They’re original recipes, so they’ll have flavor profiles you can’t get anywhere else.”

Kajioka has two restaurants in the works: Miro Kaimuki and Bar Maze, both delayed by fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. Maze was supposed to open Monday; Miro, on April 2.

Instead he is offering takeout at Miro once a week and has a two-week commitment with Show Aloha Challenge to make 60 lunches a day for needy kupuna. In fact, he was in the middle of making those lunches when news of the nominations came through.

He says he’s hopeful about an eventual return to normalcy, but he does have a concern. The James Beard awards are normally presented in May, in a huge gala in New York, amid several days of celebrations. This year’s could be quietly announced in September — no gala.

“That would be a bummer … the year we get nominated and there’s no ceremony,” Kajioka said.

They’d really want to mark the occasion, he said. “It’s like the Grammys for us. There’s no bigger award.”