Good Eating salutes those people in the Chicago food and beverage world who are making a difference through their passion, vision and commitment to quality. This year’s awards go to a range of experts that includes chefs, importers, producers, community activists, a wine educator and an author. All have enhanced the food scene in Chicago with their accomplishments.
The 2006 good eating awards go to …
THOMAS BELELIEU
Wine educator
Being general manager of Chicago’s Whitehall Hotel is job enough, but Thomas Belelieu takes the time to teach a regular three-hour wine appreciation class for free.
“I do it as a passion,” he said. “It’s fun for me, relaxing. That’s the reason I do it.”
Yet Belelieu describes himself as a “tough teacher” and the class as a rigorous exercise designed for serious students of wine, most of whom are in the trade already. That’s as it should be, especially since many participants are preparing to take exams to qualify as master sommeliers, an all-important title in the restaurant world these days. Students get homework and he recommends they band together into wine study groups.
What it all means to Chicago restaurant patrons is a surer, more knowledgeable guide to wine when they dine out. But there’s more to it. Industry insiders all know and praise him, and he has trained some of the biggest names in wine across the country.
Each class focuses on a specific wine-growing region, like France’s Loire Valley. Belelieu talks about the region and its wines, particularly key elements that make the wines distinctive.
But Belelieu pours wines from a variety of locations when it comes to tasting. He wants the students to figure out what type of wine it is and where it’s made by using deductive reasoning.
“My passion is to pass on the knowledge,” Belelieu said. “I enjoy seeing people grow.”
The Whitehall Hotel, 105 E. Delaware Pl., 312-573-6205
ERIKA ALLEN
Chicago project manager and development and national outreach director Growing Power
Like father, like daughter.
But not at first.
Erika Allen was raised on a small organic farm near Milwaukee, where her father, a former professional basketball player, founded Growing Power, a non-profit community food organization. But this bright young woman had an artistic vision for her future.
After earning art degrees from the School of the Art Institute and the University of Illinois at Chicago, she came full circle, putting food back to the top of her list with a goal to distribute food and teach people how to grow their own.
Last year Growing Power donated 75 to 200 baskets of food weekly through the Farm-City Market Basket Program.
“I guess I inherited the passion for wanting to make a difference in people’s lives,” Allen said. “I realized it didn’t make sense for me to work as a community artist, when people didn’t have their food needs met.”
Since 2002, Allen and Growing Power have collaborated with groups and organizations such as Chicago’s Fourth Presbyterian Church, the Puerto Rican Cultural Center and Kendall College. But that’s just the beginning for Allen and her Chicago organization, which have teamed up with the Chicago Park District and Moore Landscapes to plan a 20,000-square-foot urban farm expected to bloom for the third year with herbs, vegetables and edible flowers next spring on the Chicago lakefront near Buckingham Fountain.
Asked about her mission, Allen answered with plans about using open land and creating gardens with individuals, community groups and other organizations. It’s very simple, really. “I know how to grow stuff,” Allen said, “and I think everyone should know how to grow stuff.”
growingpower.org
JEAN JOHO
Chef/proprietor
More Top Picks Best Foot Spas For Tired Feet
Everest, Brasserie Jo
“My philosophy is, what is good for me today is not good enough for me tomorrow,” chef Jean Joho likes to say.
The Chicago-based restaurateur means it. But looking around the elegantly appointed dining room of Everest, one has to wonder about the man’s definition of “good.” Where do you go after four-star reviews and the 40th floor of the Chicago Stock Exchange?
Some chefs grow outward. Joho does have the Eiffel Tower restaurant in Las Vegas and an offshoot of his Chicago bistro, 11-year-old Brasserie Jo, at Boston’s Colonnade Hotel.
But for Joho the food at Everest really is the thing. The Alsatian-born chef said his cooking has grown progressively simpler in the 20 years since Everest opened to the public after two years as a private club.
Joho’s continuing evolution helps Chicago retain its title as one of America’s top food cities. His cuisine draws kudos from food professionals across the country, including the Tribune’s restaurant reviewer, Phil Vettel.
“What I find remarkable about chef Joho is his ability to surprise me, even though I’ve been eating his food for almost two decades,” Vettel said. “He has earned enough laurels to rest three careers, but his never-satisfied philosophy continues to drive him to be better than the day before. Everest continues to remain vital and relevant because Joho won’t allow it to become otherwise.”
This year Joho was inducted into the James Beard Foundation Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America. He was previously named Best American Chef for the Midwest by the foundation and Best Chef of the Year by Bon Appetit.
Everest, 440 S. LaSalle St., 40th floor, 312-663-8920
Brasserie Jo, 59 W. Hubbard St., 312-595-0800
TERRA BROCKMAN
Agricultural advocate
Terra Brockman certainly lives up to her name.
Brockman, whose first name means “earth” in Latin, has devoted years to reshaping the way Chicagoans eat. As executive director and founder of The Land Connection in Evanston, Brockman envisions a very short food supply chain: just one link, between grower and eater.
The Land Connection is a non-profit organization that preserves farmland from development, trains farmers to use that land and connects people with “the farmers who grow great local produce,” Brockman said. Under its auspices, would-be farmers learn their craft through the “Farm Beginnings” program, then find land to work with The Land Connection’s help. Consumers can use programs like Farm Direct, which provides a directory of locally grown and locally sold foods (visit Illinoisfarmdirect.org).
“We’re either going to completely lose local sources [of food], or we’re going to rebuild them,” she said. “Now is a crucial time. The infrastructure is not totally gone.”
But finding land and people to grow food for Chicagoans is only half the problem, she said. The loss of local canneries and meat lockers troubled Brockman so much that, asked to list the shining moments of the last year, she responded immediately. “Opening the state’s first and only certified organic meat processing plant at Scott Bittner’s in Eureka.”
Brockman now works with the able assistance of Linda Kruhmin, who runs the office’s day-to-day affairs. Brockman splits her time between Evanston and her brother Henry’s farm near Congerville. Her mind always is in the same place: the one-link chain binding growers and eaters.
thelandconnection.org
MARY MADISON
Owner
Lagniappe restaurant
Mary Madison’s plan to serve Chicagoans delicious meals extends beyond Lagniappe, her restaurant on West 79th Street, which has earned more than just a little buzz for its Creole dishes. Lagniappe is a Creole term meaning “something extra.” Since 2001, that’s just what Madison has offered every other Sunday when she prepares and serves 100 dinners to homeless dinner guests on Lower Wacker Drive.
The idea first came to the restaurateur when she met a friend for lunch in the Loop. A homeless man approached Madison and complained about being hungry. She bought his lunch and he waited outside to thank her.
“His gratitude was so genuine. He mentioned sharing his meal with a hungry friend. Right then, I knew I had to do something,” Madison said.
Two years ago, her church, St. James A.M.E., joined forces to partner with her efforts providing plated “lovingly prepared” meals for the homeless. The church now regularly volunteers to help with the dinners.
“Her cup runneth over when it comes to giving,” said Rev. Rudolph Bailey, a member of the St. James ministerial staff.
When a friend once mentioned that some people begging for food or money might not really be in need, the comment helped Madison define her policy for sharing with others.
“I’m following my heart,” she said. “I would rather be wrong and offer a meal than be wrong and not do anything.”
1525 W. 79th St., 773-994-6375
ROBERT, RICK AND RODNEY SCAMAN
Organic produce distributors
Goodness Greeness
Pink Pearl apples. Blue, white and red pumpkins. Ladybug watermelons. Organic and heirloom fruits and veggies like these are unusual enough to see at farmers markets, but Chicago-area shoppers are finding more of them in supermarkets. For that, thank the Scaman brothers–Robert, Rick and Rodney–who founded Goodness Greeness, an organic produce distributor, in 1990.
Their decision to launch the business was motivated by environmental concerns, said Robert, president and CEO, but also because it filled a need they didn’t see being met on a large enough scale.
“There wasn’t an infrastructure for buying and handling organic produce,” he said. “We believed if we handled it properly, we would see serious improvements in quality and ultimately be able to lower the prices.”
The early years were tough, but growing interest in organic, sustainable and heirloom foods, and the arrival of supermarkets like Whole Foods and Wild Oats, helped to propel business. Englewood-based Goodness Greeness now distributes 1.5 million cases a year across the Midwest, Scaman said, which means a ready supply of organic produce–typically 300 to 400 items–for shoppers.
The Scamans are not the only beneficiaries. “It’s fun to watch people become successful–to watch someone start out with a 1-acre farm that grows to 80 acres,” Scaman said. “It’s been a very empowering movement.”
goodnessgreeness.com
SOLEX PARTNERS
Spanish food importers
It’s a typical day, here at Solex Partners in Lakeview.
CEO Guillermo Trias clutches his forehead in both hands, anxiously watching hundreds of dollars worth of jarred olives shimmy ominously as employees shift pallets.
His sister, Eva Trias, reassures him even as she answers another employee, reaches to take a phone call and offers Manchego cheese to a bystander.
Younger sister Alma Trias is working at a computer in the front office, juggling sales calls, visitors and questions. The sliced apple she meant to eat is oxidizing; she has two hands, not three, and both are busy.
Eva’s husband, Jose Sarrate, calls out from a desk in a back room, “Which Slow Food chapter do we want to join?”
The quartet from Madrid has nurtured a lively business, importing the best of Spain’s artisan foods, from cheeses to olives and oils to specialty cured meats including the legendary products from Iberico pigs, to specialty markets in Chicago and the rest of the U.S. Doing so has required each member of the family to do a little of everything in the company’s two years.
It is a Trias point of pride that every task should be done with Spanish passion.
Their pride is the reason behind Guillermo’s anxiety: Should one of those jars break, not only the money will be lost. So will the opportunity to excite a new friend’s appetite with a delicious–and authentic–Spanish morsel.
For it also is a Trias point of pride that anyone who once shares food with them is a friend.
More Top Picks Motorcycle Helmets
And so it is true, in the largest sense, that the Triases sow friendship wherever they go, through their passion for the good foods of Spain.
solexpartners.com
MARILYN POCIUS
Author
Got a hankering for methi gota?*
Would your choereg* be more authentic if you could just find some mahlab?*
Call Marilyn Pocius. Better yet, pick up a copy of her “A Cook’s Guide to Chicago.” The revised second edition of the foodie’s shopping resource came out last spring; updated from the 2002 edition, it also features multiethnic marketplaces, kosher grocers and a Balkan section.
“I’ve always seen food as a way to visit other cultures,” Pocius said recently over lunch at Sukhadia’s, near Devon and Western Avenues. “Beyond that, I’ve always been interested in home cooking. Chefs don’t have problems finding specialty ingredients. But home cooks do.”
Pocius grew up near Kedzie and 71st in Marquette Park and is half Lithuanian. Because she always loved to cook, she kept running into ingredients that she didn’t know where to find. “Pomegranate molasses was the ingredient that started it,” she said.
So Pocius, a 2001 graduate of the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago, having spent most of her adult career in the advertising business, went to work on her book. The result is an invaluable resource for any curious cook in metro Chicago: pages and pages of listings for every ethnic cuisine, including markets, butchers, equipment vendors and more. Pocius visited every one; her savvy eye and witty writing help you feel like she’s right beside you.
(* Methi gota is a crisp-fried Indian appetizer. Choereg is an Armenian sweet bread, and mahlab, ground pits of sour cherries, gives it its distinctive flavor.
SHELLEY YOUNG
Founder and chef
The Chopping Block Cooking Schools
When Shelley Young started her cooking school nearly 10 years ago in a small red brick building on Webster Avenue in Lincoln Park, she taught all the classes herself.
Since then, The Chopping Block has grown to a staff of 60 and two locations, where 250 to 300 events and classes are offered every month.
Along the way Young has been in the forefront of the cooking-class boom in Chicago. An innovator, she has updated offerings continually with new topics such as the recent “Culinary Boot Camp” series (a five-day intensive curriculum). A risk-taker, but a savvy one (in 2005 the International Association of Culinary Professionals honored her as entrepreneur of the year), she has doubled the size of her space twice, first in Lincoln Square and last year at the Merchandise Mart.
“People want something new, they want variety,” Young said. “We serve an educational purpose, but [we also have] an entertainment value.”
Projects on simmer include a cookbook and a “heritage series,” in which people from the community will be asked to share their family stories and recipes, and an organic take-home meal service.
Merchandise Mart, 312-644-6360
4747 N Lincoln Ave., 773-472-6700
thechoppingblock.net
DOUG SOHN
Owner
Hot Doug’s
If you build a better hot dog, the world will beat a path to your door, right?
Doug Sohn has done that with Hot Doug’s, a modest restaurant with an irreverent sense of humor that has elevated hot dogs and gourmet sausages to cult status by focusing on doing one thing very well.
A graduate of Kendall College’s culinary program, Sohn had moved away from cooking in the ’90s and had no intention of opening a restaurant when he got the inspiration. A co-worker’s complaint of having eaten a disappointing frankfurter set Sohn and friends on a two-year search for good dogs. After about 30 Chicago stands, he began to think he could do it better.
“Chicago definitely has this reputation for Chicago-style hot dogs, and I think what has happened over the years is that most places don’t do it well,” Sohn explained. “Why shouldn’t it be a really good hot dog, a fresh bun, good mustard?”
Hot dog fans responded soon after Hot Doug’s January 2001 debut in a former Roscoe Village hot dog/burger place. Word spread and lines grew. By 2004, out-of-town foodies were making pilgrimages. But in April, fire struck, closing Sohn down. He thought about doing something else, about taking the fire as an omen, but he received so many concerned inquiries (“I couldn’t be more humbled and flattered”) that he decided, “OK, we’ll try this one more time.”
The new place opened about a mile west in January 2005 to pent-up demand that had a line snaking outside in freezing temperatures.
Sohn plans to continue selling alligator and other creative sausages and, of course, classic dogs of every stripe, as long as he’s having fun.
“Right now I love doing this and will continue to do this until I don’t,” Sohn said.
3324 N. California Ave., 773-279-9550
———-
Who will be next year’s winners?
If you know of individuals who belong on our list next year, send nominations to Good Eating Awards, Room 552, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611. Or send an e-mail to [email protected]. For past winners, go to chicagotribune.com/goodeatingawards