Chicago Culinary Museum and Chefs Hall of Fame
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Annual Chefs Hall of Fame Inductee Dinner
Tuesday September 22, 2009 at the Union League Club of Chicago
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.
Previous Chefs Hall of Fame Inductee's
2006 Charlie Trotter
Charlie Trotter’s is regarded as one of the finest restaurants in the world. For nearly 20 years, the restaurant has dedicated itself to excellence in the culinary arts. Not willing to ride on its laurels, Charlie Trotter is continuously forging new directions and has been instrumental in establishing new standards for fine dining worldwide.
The restaurant is recognized by a variety of prestigious national and international institutions. In 1995 Charlie Trotter’s was inducted into the esteemed “Relais & Chateaux” and in 1998 was accepted as a member by “Traditions & Qualite.” It has also received Five Stars from the “Mobil Travel Guide,” Five Diamonds by “AAA” and ten “James Beard Foundation” awards, including “outstanding Restaurant’ (2000) and “Outstanding Chef” (1999), “Wine Spectator” named the restaurant “The Best Restaurant in the World for Wine & Food” (1998) and “America’s Best Restaurant” (2000), Chef Trotter is the author of 11 cookbooks, subject of two management books, and is the host of the nationally aired, award winning PBS cooking series, “The Kitchen Sessions with Charlie Trotter.”
In 2000, Chef Trotter opened “Trotter’s To Go,” a take-out gourmet retail shop in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. He also produces a line of gourmet products under the Charlie Trotter brand name. Chef Trotter has begun to expand his culinary offerings with the addition of two new restaurants: “C” a fine-dining seafood focused restaurant at One & Only Palmilla (Los Cabos, Mexico) opened in February 2004.
Beyond his numerous culinary accolades, Chef Trotter is very involved in philanthropic activities, which include a vast number of national and international charities. Most close to his heart is the “Charlie Trotter Culinary Education Foundation.” Since its inception in 1999, Chef Trotter hosts weekly dinners for High School students, as well as underwriting annual fund raising dinners for the foundation. To date the foundation has raised over $5000,000 to award to individuals seeking careers in the culinary arts.
Chef Trotter recently received an award at the White House from both President Bush and Colin Powell for his work with the Foundation and was named one of only five “heroes” to be honored by Colin Powell’s charity, “Americas Promise.” In 2004, Chef Trotter was awarded the Humanitarian of the Year award by the International Association of Culinary Professionals for his overall service to the community.
2007 Jimmy Bannos Bannos’ bustling New Orleans-style Heaven on Seven restaurants have been one of the most popular eateries in Chicago for 27 years. Serving a highly personalized interpretation of New Orleans and Southern cooking, Bannos has smartly reinvented his food and his restaurant over the years to keep his concept fresh and vibrant. Today, he marries Latin, South American, Asian and Western European methods with New Orleans techniques and ingredients. A collector of modern and antique cookbooks, Bannos entered the publishing world himself with The Heaven on Seven Cookbook: Where It’s Mardi Gras All The Time! and Big Easy Cocktails, Jazzy Drinks and Savory Bites. They invite food lovers into his kitchen and share some of his favorite down-home recipes. What separates Bannos from the rest is his ability to season aggressively without overpowering the palate. While he uses cayenne-spiked seasoning blends and red chili pepper sauces, he also incorporates milder, well-rounded seasoning agents. The result is a complex layering of flavors that is consistent with New Orleans cooking principles, while bringing the region’s food into the 21st century. Jimmy resides with his wife Annamarie in Park Ridge, Illinois. 2008 Rick Bayless
Jimmy Bannos, a third-generation restaurateur, worked at his parents’ diner when he was growing up between the age of 9 and 20. After receiving his formal culinary education at Washburne Trade School, Bannos became infatuated with Crescent City cooking in the early 1980s and worked with famous New Orleans chefs, such as Paul Prudhomme at K-Paul’s, Frank Brigtsen and Emeril Lagasse.
Rick is fourth generation in an Oklahoma family of restaurateurs and grocers. From 1980 to 1986, after studying Spanish and Latin American Studies as an undergraduate and doing doctoral work in Anthropological Linguistics at the University of Michigan, Rick lived in Mexico with his wife, Deann, writing his now-classic Authentic Mexican: Regional Cooking From The Heart of Mexico (William Morrow, 1987).
In 1987, Rick having moved to Chicago, opened the hugely successful Frontera Grill, which specializes in contemporary regional Mexican cooking. Still today it remains one of Chicago's hottest dining spots.
In 1988, Food & Wine Magazine selected Rick as "Best New Chef of The Year," and in 1991, he won a James Beard Award for "Best American Chef: Midwest." In 1995, he won another James Beard Award for "National Chef of the Year" as well as an award for "Chef of the Year" from the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP). In 1998, the Beard Foundation honored Rick as "Humanitarian of the Year." In 2002, Bon Appétit honored him with the “Cooking Teacher of the Year Award”.
In 1996, Rick began the prepared food line of salsas, chips, and grilling rubs under the Frontera Foods label. Frontera Foods went on to open Frontera Fresco—a food kiosk in the historic Marshall Fields (now Macy’s) building in 2005 in Chicago.
Rick is a restaurant consultant, teaches authentic Mexican cooking throughout the United States (he is a visiting staff member at the Culinary Institute of America), and leads cooking and cultural tours to Mexico.