Press

North Shore Magazine
Taste - February 2006

A Healthy Jean Pool
The Jean Banchet Awards and Grand Chefs Gala is the perfect crib sheet for quality dining destinations.

It’s tough to find an awards ceremony you can trust. The Academy Awards is a political as Tammany Hall. Give a guy a Grammy and you can bet your gramaphone his next efforts will have the lasting power of Milli Vanilli. And don’t even get us started on the hanging chad of a ceremony that is the Tony Awards.

When it comes to music, movies and theatre, you’re better off asking your dentist for advice. The only exception? Dining awards. Well, one dining award in particular. Chicago’s own Jean Banchet Awards for Culinary Excellence (named after master chef Jean Banchet, founder of Le Francais in Wheeling), which has shown discriminating taste over the last five years.

Think of the awards as a Windy City version of the James Beard Awards. Nominees in various dining categories (celebrity chef, rising chef, cooking school, sommelier, etc.) are selected by a culinary cabinet (full disclosure, North Shore does have a vote). Winners are chosen by area chefs and nominees.

Their track record has been as clean crisp as a Chateau d’Yquem Sauternes. Selections for Rising Chef of the year have all panned out brilliantly (Grant Achatz, now of Alinea, an dKoren Grievson of Avec, to name a few). Any restaurant that’s won a Best Fine Dining Award (Charlie Trotter’s, Les Nomades, Trio and Everest) is worth your patronage. And being selected for Celebrity Chef of the Year (Rick Bayles of Topolobampo, Paul Kahan of Blackbird, Jean Joho of Everest and Shawn McClain of Green Zebra) virtually guarantees long lasting success.

And here’s the best part: You can sample fare from 50 of Chicago’s top restaurants at the Grand Chef’s Gala when the winners are announced on Feb 4. This year the theme is Passage to India. The party, benefiting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, offers an open bar, live/silent auctions, dancing, and an additional four-course meal served by the Fairmont Hotel. Tickets are $350. 6 p.m. Fairmont Hotel, 200 N. Columbus Drive, Chicago. Call Sylvia Margolies, 312-326-4491, ext 114.

In the meantime, here’s the list of this year’s nominees. Our recommendation: Clip these out and spend 2006 coming to your own conclusions. We guarantee it will be a year well spent.

AND THE NOMINEES ARE…

Celebrity Chef
Grant Achatz…………..……..Alinea
Graham Elliot Bowles……..Avenues
Homaro Cantu…………………..Moto
Roland Liccioni…………..Le Francais
Michael Taus………..Zealous/Saltaus

Celebrity Pastry Chef
Wendi James…….…Avenues
Catherine Findlay….302 West
Gale Gand………………..Tru
Mindy Segal…..Hot Chocolate
Christine McCabe…..Carnivale

Rising Chef
Stephanie Izard………Scylla
Jeremy Lycan…….302 West
Ryan Poli……………..Butter
Todd Stein…………..…..mk
Paul Virant……………..Vie

Rising Pastry Chef
Tara Lane…………..Blackbird
Erika Masuda……..Coco Pazzo
Jordan Rappaport………….x/o
Ben Roche………………Moto
Alex Stupak…………….Alinea

Best Sommelier
Henry Bishop………..……....Spiaggia
Belinda Chang…..….Osteria Via Stato
Brain Duncan….bin wine café/Bin 36
Aaron Elliott…………………..Avenues
Scott Tyree………………………….Tru

Best Catering Company
Blue Plate Catering
Calihan Catering
Entertaining Company
Food for Thoughts Catering
Pear Tree Catering

Best Neighborhood Restaurant
Lula Café
Prairie Grass Café
Scylla
West Town Tavern
x/o

Best Fine Dining
Alinea
Avenues
Everest
Spiaggia
Tru

Back to top