Banchet Awards Team With Chicago Chefs Cook
Chicago culinary awards ceremony to return in January after a one-year hiatus
Peak Market Season Shows Hints of Fall
The peak summer farmers market season continues, but there are hints of the seasonal transition to come. Witness these beautiful winter squash at Nichols Farm and Orchard’s stand at Green City Market in Lincoln Park today (September 9).
I’ll have more about my market visit in Sunday’s Local Food Forum, along with the week’s regional farmers market schedule. But now, stand by for news!
Banchet Awards Return with Chicago Chefs Cook Partnership
The Jean Banchet Awards for Culinary Excellence, known as Chicago’s home version of the James Beard Awards, will be welcomed back in January after a one-year hiatus.
And to make sure they hit the ground running, the Awards organization is teaming up with Chicago Chefs Cook (CCC), a culinary collaboration that has staged a series of successful fundraising dinners and tasting events for humanitarian causes over the past year and a half.
The Banchets were created by the Greater Illinois Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation as an annual fundraiser beginning in 2002, but the organization bowed out after the 2022 ceremony and turned the awards over to Michael Muser, co-owner of the renowned Ever restaurant and After lounge, who for many years was emcee of the awards ceremony.
Muser undertook the arduous task of re-creating the Awards as a stand-alone non-profit organization, and had to put the ceremony on hold this year. But Muser then connected with the leadership of Chicago Chefs Cook, which gained non-profit status itself earlier this year, and this week announced a collaboration for the 2024 Awards ceremony that will be held on January 28.
Muser and the Jean Banchet team will handle the Awards nominations and selections, while Chicago Chefs Cook will take charge of the event planning and the philanthropic aspect of the event.
“It’s about supporting the Chicago culinary community and celebrating our own,” said Sarah Stegner, Chicago Chefs Cook co-founder and co-owner of Prairie Grass Cafe, a leading farm-to-table restaurant located in suburban Northbrook. “The only things CCC will do is orchestrate the event and raise money for a Chicago-based charity.”
The awards are named for Jean Banchet (1941-2013), who entered the vanguard of the Chicago area’s fine dining movement when he opened Le Francais in suburban Wheeling in 1973.
Details about the Awards’ location and ticket purchasing are forthcoming and will be reported in Local Food Forum. The following is the press release about the collaboration issued by The Banchets organization.
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Jean Banchet Awards Return Jan. 28, 2024; Awards Will Now Be a Partnership with Chicago Chefs Cook
CHICAGO (Sept. 6, 2023) — The Jean Banchet Awards for Culinary Excellence will return Jan. 28, 2024, in partnership with Chicago Chefs Cook, a non-profit unifying Chicago's culinary community to provide humanitarian relief worldwide.
Chicago Chefs Cook, led by chef Sarah Stegner, Eda Davidman, Jodi Fyfe and Darren Gest, has raised more than $1 million since its founding in 2022 for relief efforts in Ukraine, Puerto Rico, Italy, Maui, Ethiopia, and other areas devastated by conflict and natural disasters.
In 2022, the founder of the Jean Banchet Awards, The Greater Illinois Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, turned over the reins of the program to its emcee Michael Muser, the co-owner of two-Michelin starred Ever restaurant and After lounge.
As Muser began to build an independent nonprofit, he met the four leaders of Chicago Chefs Cook. A partnership proved to be a savvier and streamlined route to resuming the awards, which were not held in 2023.
“The Jean Banchet Awards and Chicago Chefs Cook draw upon the creativity, excellence and generosity of the same community: Chicago’s most talented chefs and restaurateurs,” Muser said. “That’s why this partnership makes so much sense. We both bring chefs together, to help those in need and make Chicago’s culinary community stronger.”
The Jean Banchet Awards, named for the chef who put Chicago fine dining on the map in the 1970s and ‘80s with his Wheeling restaurant Le Francais, will continue to recognize local innovators on the restaurant scene.
The Greater Illinois Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation created the awards for their annual Grand Chefs Gala in February 2002. In 2016, the Banchet Awards became a stand-alone awards show focused on supporting the local restaurant community. The event has grown into an incredible night celebrating the high caliber and diversity of talent in the region's food and beverage industry.
“Chef Sarah, Jodi, Darren and I provide a platform for chefs to unite and lend a hand to those who need it most,” Davidman said. “Our partnership with Michael and The Banchets allows us to further that mission while celebrating the immense talent of this world-class culinary community.” Nominees for the awards will be announced in November.
The following are photos of Chicago Chefs Cook leaders that I captured at the Green City Market Chef BBQ on Thursday (September 7).
Co-founders Chef Sarah Stegner and Good Food advocate Eda Davidman, who heads up Chicago Chefs Cook’s fundraising efforts.
Co-founders Sarah Stegner and Darren Gest with Heather Bublick, a Chicago Chefs Cook supporter who co-owns the Evanston-based Soul & Smoke BBQ restaurants with her husband, Chef D’Andre Carter.
And More Chef BBQ Photos
Here’s a follow-up to Friday’s article about the Green City Market Chef BBQ, which you can find by clicking here. That story’s photos focused on grilled meats and top chefs; today we look at some of the delicious plated items.
