Chicago Culinary Museum and Chefs Hall of Fame

 2009 Inductee Chef Carrie Nahabedian
"The Heart of Chicago" 

Chef/Proprietor, NAHA 

At 17 when most of her friends were laying on the beach and hanging at the mall, Carrie Nahabedian was chopping and dicing as a cook for Chicago’s Ritz Carlton Hotel. Carrie is a Chicago native who credits her passion for cooking to strong Armenian roots and a family that enjoyed good food. 

A three-year apprenticeship at the Ritz affirmed Carrie’s love for food and launched her career in fine dining.  Eager for new experiences, her next stop was the glitz and glamour of Atlantic City, where she opened Resorts International Hotel and Casino, the city’s first casino, as assistant chef of the garde manger. 

The young chef returned to her hometown of Chicago to further her career in the city’s top kitchens. She first joined the city’s famed Le Perroquet, which had introduced nouvelle cuisine to America and was ranked one of the country’s top five restaurants. From there, Carrie set out on an extensive culinary tour of Europe and the Mediterranean, after which she returned to Chicago for the great honor of becoming the first woman to cook at Le Francais. It was here that Carrie worked under the supervision of Chef/Proprietor Jean Banchet, who is credited with single-handedly bringing world-class cuisine to Chicago and for operating one of the finest restaurants in the country. 

An entrepreneur at heart, Carrie then joined Chef Norman Van Aken to open and design the regional American menu for Sinclair’s in Lake Forest, Illinois, a dapper restaurant owned by stylish restauranteur Gordon Sinclair. It was there that Carrie also worked side-by-side with young Chicago chefs Suzy Crofton and Charlie Trotter.  Further appointments followed for Carrie in Chicago; first at Jovan, then as Chef de Cuisine at La Tour at the luxury Park Hyatt Hotel and, in 1989, the Four Seasons Hotel. Carrie served as opening Executive Sous Chef of the Four Seasons Chicago property and helped develop the theme for the hotel’s award-winning Seasons Restaurant, which featured regional American cuisine. After two years, Carrie was promoted to acting Executive Chef of the entire Chicago operation. Venturing west, Carrie then became Executive Chef of the Four Seasons Biltmore, Santa Barbara, a luxury resort in the heart of the California Riviera. The southern California lifestyle and its similarities to the French Riviera were a great influence in her cooking. “I created food that reflected the sun, water, mountains and climate of the area, and used the tremendous variety of ingredients found in this rich, lush landscape, ” says Nahabedian. 

Please vist Chef Nahabedian at:  http://www.naha-chicago.com/