The 17th Annual Grand Chefs Gala, honoring Chicago’s top chefs with the Jean Banchet Awards for Culinary Excellence, were held at Fairmont Chicago, Millennium Park this past weekend. The gala also a special tribune to Jean Banchet and his monumental contributions to the culinary world and Chicago dining scene.
The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation hosted the 17th Annual Grand Chefs Gala on Friday, January 31 at Fairmont Chicago, Millennium Park, 200 N. Columbus Drive. The Gala recognized the city’s culinary elite with the Jean Banchet Awards for Culinary Excellence and showcased their talents with bite-sized samples of their signature items. Mingling with the Michelin-rate chefs, sommeliers, dining personalities, and award-winning pastry artists, I started to feel like a gastronome myself! Infamously known for my kitchen failures (I burn everything from toast to popcorn to potatoes), I just wish I could harness some of the culinary genius in the ballrooms that night!
This year’s winners are as follows:
- Best Sommelier – Valerie Cao, Grace
- Best Mixologist – Paul McGee, Three Dots and a Dash
- Best Restaurant Design – Embeya
- Best Restaurant Service – Grace
- Best New Restaurant – Fat Rice
- Restaurant of the Year – Grace
- Rising Pastry Chef – Thomas Raquel, Acadia
- Rising Chef – Thai Dang, Embeya
- Chef-de-Cuisine – Nicholas Romero, Grace
- Pastry Chef of the Year – Leigh Omilinsky, Cafe des Architectes
- Chef of the Year – Curtis Duffy, Grace
Cystic Fibrosis is a genetic disease affecting 30,000 children and adults in the United States. The respiratory system and the digestive tract are both compromised by CF, making involuntary activities like breathing and eating extraordinarily difficult for these patients on a daily basis. In 1955, children with CF usually did not live long enough to attend elementary school. Today, because of Foundation-supported research and care, patients are living into their 30’s, 40’s and beyond.
For more information, please visit the Foundation’s website at www.grandchefsgala.com.
