CHICAGO — The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation will host the 17th Annual Grand Chefs Gala on Friday, January 31 at Fairmont Chicago, Millennium Park, 200 N. Columbus Drive. In an exciting, Oscars-style presentation, the Gala will recognize the city’s culinary elite with the Jean Banchet Awards for Culinary Excellence. This year’s event will include a special tribute to Jean Banchet and his monumental contributions to the culinary world and the Chicago dining scene.
“Mr. Banchet flourished because he was able to translate haute cuisine into something an American audience could understand and relish,” said The New York Times, and the Chicago Tribune remembered Banchet as “Chicago’s first celebrity chef, a prodigiously talented cook and gregarious personality who almost single-handedly raised Chicago’s dining reputation from a steak-and-potatoes town to a serious restaurant city.” The Chicago Sun-Times said that “Mr. Banchet’s perfectionism, decadent sauces, top-quality ingredients and inventive menus inspired other chefs who would go on to start — and star at — restaurants of their own.”
Since its debut in 2001, this prestigious honor is the only Chicago-based awards presentation that recognizes and rewards culinary originality and talent in the Chicagoland area. Forty-four exceptional chefs, sommeliers, mixologists, and restaurants were nominated in an open, public forum and the winners will be selected in a closed ballot vote by their peers.
