Last night the James Beard Foundation Awards Ceremony was held in Chicago at Lyric Opera, and hometown and worldwide favorite Alinea took home the prize for Outstanding Restaurant:
A restaurant in the United States that serves as a national standard-bearer for consistent quality and excellence in food, atmosphere, and service.
To be eligible for this most prestigious of culinary awards a restaurant must have been operating for ten years. In the first year that Alinea became eligible, the globally recognized restaurant was awarded the top prize.
Since opening in 2005 Alinea has definitely been a standard-bearer. The restaurant and its prized Chef Grant Achatz have been lauded internationally, consistently receiving three Michelin stars and named Best Restaurant In The World by Elite Traveler an astounding four times, among a multitude of other awards too numerous to mention.
Chicago’s other three-star restaurant, Grace, was also honored. Chef Curtis Duffy was named the Best Chef in the Great Lakes region. Duffy’s had the best mentors in the business; not only did he open Alinea with Achatz as his chef de cuisine, his first restaurant job in Chicago was Charlie Trotter’s.
Congratulations, Chefs Achatz and Duffy, and thanks for your continued excellence!
You can learn more about Grant Achatz in his autobiography “Life, on the Line: A Chef’s Story of Chasing Greatness, Facing Death, and Redefining the Way We Eat.” To learn more about Chef Curtis Duffy and his rise to culinary greatness “despite the nightmarish state of his personal life” watch the acclaimed documentary, “For Grace.”
Photo: Alinea’s Facebook