Chicago hosts James Beard Awards for culinary excellence

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The city of Chicago hosted the 25th annual James Beard Awards for the first time Monday night, an honor that usually goes to New York City.

The awards presentations considered to be the Oscars of the food industry took place at the Civic Opera House.

James Beard, considered to be the first celebrity chef in America, was great friends with Julia Child, who helped start the foundation in his name after Beard passed away in the 1980s.

The awards have been around since 1990 and honor the best in the food industry.

There were about eight major nominations that Chicagoans were up for, but unfortunately they spent most of the night in their seats watching their colleagues from around the country accept most of the awards. However, there were a couple of Chicago winners early on.

"I have never thought about the awards or the recognition," said Rich Melman, Lifetime Achievement Award. "I'm passionate about what I do."

"I think we kind of started, with a lot of other bars, the cocktail culture in Chicago," said Terry Alexander, The Violet Hour, Best Bar winner. "Instead of banging out drinks as fast as you could, it was really doing cocktails the way it was done 60-70 years ago."

Local eateries enjoy James Beard Awards attention

Alinea, the cutting-edge Lincoln Park restaurant is celebrating its 10th anniversary, and while it has racked up a number of impressive awards over the years, including consistent rankings among the top 10 restaurants of the world, there have been fewer honors as prized as their James Beard Awards.

"More reservations, you become busier, and then existentially you get cookbook deals, TV show deals, it all kinds of winds itself together," said Grant Achatz.

Stephanie Izard knows how important the awards are. She won Best Chef of the Great Lakes Region two years ago, and says business boomed. Monday night, she's cooking for the VIPs, but knows how important this night is for Chicago.

"There are people that follow the James Beard Awards that are true 'foodies,'" she said. "Those people travel around and come into restaurants, so it just brings another group of clientele."

Monday's lunch service was extra busy at Nico Osteria inside the Thompson Hotel, no doubt curious eaters wanting to see Erling Wu-Bower's menu. The chef is nominated for the same award Izard won two years ago, and he realizes just getting the nomination brings extra scrutiny.

"It's a huge honor from people who are my peers and writers and first of all that's the more important," Wu-Bower said. "For me it just means the restaurant is going to be really busy during James Beard week."

"This city deserves the James Beard Awards, we're ready to show off, we're ready to show everybody how good we are," said.

"It raises awareness, it brings people to the city," said food writer Jolene Ketzenberger. "It brings Beard judges to the city which is good. It's always good for them to try new places. Places where they can perhaps vote on later on."

Coming on the heels of last week's NFL Draft, securing the James Beard Awards is another big coup for the city of Chicago, and while they don't have the mass appeal or reach of the draft, they are important for a city looking to attract more business.

"Just today someone was talking about scouting a new site and thinking about Chicago as a location, a second location for their restaurants," said Choose Chicago Chair Desiree Rogers.

To get the awards to Chicago, the city promised to raise over $2.8 million in sponsorships over two years. HMSHost, the restaurant provider at O'Hare International Airport was the first to jump on board.

"I looked at it and said, 'This has been held in New York for years, but it's time Chicago took its place as the number one culinary city in the country,'" said Steve Johnson, HMSHost president and CEO.

While the number of people visiting Chicago as a direct result of the James Beard Awards isn't large, the hope is that the publicity garnered from them will motivate others to look at Chicago as a travel and food destination.

"Culinary tours are off the charts," said Sam Toia, Illinois Restaurant Association. "Forty percent of the people who travel now look at what restaurants are in that city and by bringing the James Beard Awards here people see Chicago is becoming a culinary epicenter in America."

The James Beard Foundation has signed up with the city to bring the awards to Chicago through 2017.