Meet Chicago's James Beard Finalists
Plus, check out the lineup for Green City's 25th Anniversary ceremony
Beard Finalists Include Chicago Farm-to-Table Pioneer Jason Hammel
Chicago’s Lyric Opera House has been the venue for the annual James Beard Foundation Awards since 2015. And as has always been the case, this year’s awards will give a rooting interest to the hometown attendees.
Lula Cafe — the Logan Square restaurant created in 1999 by farm-to-table Chef Jason Hammel and his wife Amalea Tschilds — is one of five finalists for the Outstanding Hospitality award. (Local Food Forum published an article about Jason Hammel, his thoughtful and community-focused approach, and his The Lula Cafe Cookbook last October 23.)
Anna Posey of Elske, located on West Loop’s Restaurant Row, is up for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker.
Sujan Sarkar of Indienne (River North) and Jenner Tomaska of Esmé (Lincoln Park) are among the five contenders for Best Chef Great Lakes.
Congratulations to them and to all the other finalists across the United States who contribute so much to our nation’s culinary culture.
The James Beard Foundation also announced the awardees in the Leadership, Humanitarian, and Lifetime Achievement categories. Tomorrow’s Local Food Forum will highlight these honorees.
Marking a Milestone on Market Opening Day
Green City Market (GCM), which has played a big role in expanding consumers’ interest in buying local, turns 25 this year — and it is marking the occasion with a ceremony on Saturday (April 6) as it kicks off the Chicago region’s outdoor market season.
The market, located near the south end of Lincoln Park at 1817 N. Clark St., will open at 7 a.m. The ceremony, scheduled to start at 9 a.m., will include remarks from:
Mandy Moody, Green City Market Executive Director
Timmy Knudsen, alderman for Chicago’s 43rd Ward
Sarah Stegner, Chef/Owner of Northbrook’s Prairie Grass Cafe, Co-Founder of Green City Market… and my co-host on Local Food Forum’s “Better” Dialogues webinar series (!), which launches on Monday, April 15 with a conversation about regenerative agriculture (see article below).
Following their comments, there will be a cake-cutting ceremony; a culinary demo featuring Holly Willoughby, Executive Chef of Crosby’s Kitchen and Ella Elli, and free food samples from selected GCM vendors.
OK, so snowballs falling out of the sky isn’t the sight I wanted to see on Wednesday of farmers market kickoff week. Just close the blinds and ignore it, because this too shall pass. The forecast for Saturday is…
Reserve Your Place at Our Webinar Series Debut
Local Food Forum’s brand new webinar series launches on Monday, April 15 with a lively and informative conversation on the important topic of regenerative agriculture.
I am grateful to co-host Chef Sarah Stegner for developing the project with me and to the great organizational and business supporters reflected in the pretty new graphic above (thank you, Cade Missner of Chicago Chefs Cook, for creating this meme).
Register now… Zoom capacity is limited and it will make the webinar team very happy to see those virtual seats filling up. Not sure about your schedule on the 15th? Sign up anyway… the webinar recording will be shared with all registrants.
Click the first button to go right to the ticket page, and the second to read all the details about the event and the series.
Hobbes’ World, and Welcome to It
I could have lived without the taste of winter this morning, but someone was totally fascinated…
…. but it wore off quickly.