Chicago Chefs' Regal Birthday Salute for Ina
Huge turnout for the Breakfast Queen of Chicago, Green City Market and Pilot Light
All Hail the Breakfast Queen of Chicago
The Chicago culinary community had a royally good time Wednesday (April 26) at Chicago Chefs Cook’s 80th Birthday Salute to Ina Pinkney, who was dubbed the Breakfast Queen of Chicago during her legendary restaurant career from which she retired in 2013.
As with the earlier four Chicago Chefs Cook tasting events since March 2022, the massive tasting party doubled as a fundraiser, in this case for two of Ina’s favorite local non-profits: Green City Market, widely regarded as our region’s most prominent farmers market, and Pilot Light, the chef-driven organization that helps schools integrate education about food into their curriculums.
The highlight of the evening was a ceremony at which Ina, surrounded by the cream of our region’s chef community, was presented with a crown and a gigantic cake created by Eli’s Cheescake (photo above).
During the ceremony, Ina was introduced by Phil Vettel, the former longtime Chicago Tribune restaurant critic, who said that unless you were staying in a four-star hotel, the restaurant breakfast scene was “grim” before Ina launched her first restaurant and “set a new standard for breakfast dining.”
Ina focused her remarks on the organizations she chose to be the beneficiaries of the evening’s fundraiser. She cited introductory remarks by Chef Sarah Stegner of Prairie Grass Cafe — a Green City board member since its 1999 founding and a member of the Chicago Chefs Cook leadership team — in noting that “a lot of us were semi-conscious in the ‘60s and the ‘70s and the ‘80s when it came to where our food was raised and grown.”
She continued, ”It was people like Sarah and [late Green City Market founder] Abby Mandel, who said, ‘We need to pay attention to where the food is coming from.’… Sarah was the one that opened our eyes and put together the perfect contract of people, chefs and farmers.”
Ina then turned her attentions to Pilot Light, saying “Because I'm an old English teacher by profession, it was extraordinary to me to think that they could teach children the connection between wellness and community.”
She concluded:
And so these were the charities that I chose for my night tonight and to think that my name could bring you all in to raise money for charity is very humbling. And on my last breath, if I asked myself that question, ‘Did I do enough?’ tonight you have proven that I can say yes. I have too many flaws to be perfect, but I have too many blessings to be ungrateful.
Before Ina spoke, the Chicago Chefs Cook team took the stage, along with two of the chefs who founded Pilot Light 12 years ago: Jason Hammel of Lula Cafe and Marisol and Paul Kahan of the expansive One Off Hospitality Group (Avec, The Publican and more).
As the evening was also a celebration of the Chicago culinary community in which Ina has played such an outsized role, Paul stated, “There's no chef community like the one in Chicago in the whole country. We support each other, we support important causes and we want to make Chicago the best restaurant city in the world. It already is.”
The evening was an incredible photo opp, and what follows is just a small sample of the incredible talent who came out to The Geraghty event space on Chicago’s South Side to honor Ina and share samples of their kitchen magic. (I’ll have more pictures in tomorrow’s Local Food Forum.)
The Chicago Chefs Cook leadership team: Tony Priolo of Piccolo Sogno; Sarah Stegner of Prairie Grass Cafe; longtime Good Food advocates Eda Davidman and Darren Gest; and Jodi Fyfe, owner/CEO of The Paramount Group and Eden restaurant.
Jason Hammel (who celebrated his birthday Wednesday by celebrating Ina’s birthday) and Paul Kahan.
Rick Bayless (right), creator of the Frontera Restaurant Group and a founding board member of Green City Market.
Chicago Chefs Cook co-founders Tony Priolo and Sarah Stegner.
And Tony with Chef Art Smith, whose latest restaurant sensation is Reunion at Navy Pier.
Sebastian White, whose The Evolved Network non-profit works to help underprivileged youths through a farm to table experience and therapeutic services. The dinners that Sebastian and chef allies create to raise money for The Evolved Network have been the subject of several Local Food Forum articles.
Chef Darnell Reed (left) of Luella’s Southern Kitchen, who is hosting the next fundraising dinner for The Evolved Network on May 10 (click here to learn more and buy tickets).
Paul Virant, a pioneer of farm to table dining in the Chicago area, was there representing his Gaijin restaurant in Chicago. He also owns the restaurants Vie and Vistro Prime in the city’s western suburbs.
Greg Wade is a world-class baker (he won a James Beard Award in 2019 for the nation’s best baker) whose Publican Quality Bread is part of Paul Kahan’s One Off Hospitality Group. Publican Quality Bread has its own store at 1759 W. Grand Ave. in Chicago and you really must visit.