Good Eating salutes those people in the Chicago-area 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, including entrepreneurs, auctioneers, consultants, cooks and cheese mongers. All have enhanced the Chicago scene with their accomplishments. Know someone deserving of an award? Send nominations to [email protected]
Greg O’Neill and Ken Miller
Pastoral Artisan Cheese, Bread & Wine
Three stores in five years despite a tanking economy testifies not only to Chicago’s growing hunger for fine food but also the acumen of Pastoral’s co-owners, Greg O’Neill and Ken Miller. The pair, partners in life as well as in business, are particularly noteworthy for elevating the cheese game in the city to new heights. Their impact extends far beyond the customers who shop at their stores. Pastoral has helped to design and supply cheese programs for 30 of the region’s top restaurants.
“Cheese is the center of our universe, wine and bread are the spokes on the wheel,” O’Neill said.
O’Neil, a marketer, and Miller, a chef turned computer pro, got into the high-end food business because they saw a need for it in their Lakeview neighborhood. Cheese comes first in their store’s name because O’Neill’s initial research showed how much people really care about it. That passion is still pulsing.
“It’s been really fun to see how engaged our customers have been,” he said.
2945 N. Broadway, 773-472-4781; 53 E. Lake St., 312-658-1250; Chicago French Market, 131 N. Clinton St., 312-454-2200; pastoralartisan.com
John Hart, Michael Davis, Paul Hart
Hart Davis Hart Wine Co.
It was September 2008, just as the economy was beginning to tank alarmingly, when Hart Davis Hart Wine Co. conducted an auction of a world-class wine collection. The sale generated an eyebrow-raising $11.16 million, making it the fourth-largest wine auction in history.
“That was the defining moment that set us up at the top of the industry,” Paul Hart said. “It showed that we could do it, and we pleased our bidders and delighted the consigner.”
The company was founded in 2004, when two top wine auctioneers, Paul Hart and Michael Davis, teamed up with longtime wine retailer John Hart (no relation) to offer auctions and retail sales. John Hart was named chairman, Paul Hart became chief executive, and Davis was tapped for vice chairman.
Their years of experience, high standards and a staff of 30 (“Among the finest in the field,” John Hart said) have all served Hart Davis Hart well. The company is ranked second for American auction sales, with some $22 million generated in 2009, Paul Hart said.
Such success is a testament to Hart Davis Hart’s service-oriented philosophy that wins the company loyal clients. “People who we sold wine to 30 years ago are coming back to have us sell it,” Davis said. “We have gotten to know them. We’ve met their families and they’ve become part of our family.”
363 W. Erie St., Chicago. 312-482-9996, hdhwine.com
Alexis Frankfort & Jeff Leverenz
Kitchen Chicago
Alexis Frankfort wasn’t expecting to be a culinary den mother-mentor when she quit her job in the financial-services sector. She wanted to bake wedding cakes for a living. “I thought, I’ll start small and I’ll start from home and build it up,” said Frankfort, who found out fast that you can’t do that at home, nor could she find a commercial kitchen to work in. The problem prompted Frankfort and her husband, Jeff Leverenz (a software engineer), to open Kitchen Chicago, a rent-by-the-hour, shared-use, commercially licensed kitchen in a former catering kitchen in Ravenswood Manor in 2005. Last year, they moved to a larger, stainless steel-filled space west of the Loop on Leavitt Street.
Bakers, caterers, candy-makers and farmers market folks have been their clients. Pie-maker Hoosier Mama and the pastry wizards of Floriole Bakery used Kitchen Chicago, as have many more who stir up food products without the financial outlay needed to open their own facility. (Despite recent questions on licensing with the city, Frankfort said Kitchen Chicago is working with clients and the city to resolve the issues.) Most clients stay about two years, leaving when the number of employees and the volume of food outgrows Kitchen Chicago’s space. “We do want them gone at some point,” Frankfort said, “because then we know we’ve done our job.”
324 N. Leavitt St., Chicago; 312-455-0863, kitchenchicago.com
Manny Valdes
Frontera Foods
More Top Picks Car Polish
How much does Manny Valdes love Frontera Grill? When the groundbreaking Mexican restaurant opened in 1986, Valdes was one of its first hard-core fans, eating there four or five times a month. When Valdes graduated from business school seven years later and went to work in the corporate world, he kept talking to his wife, Conchita, about that dream he had hatched in school of a Frontera packaged-food line.
Finally, his wife gave him an ultimatum: “You’ve got to either stop talking about this or do something about it.” He introduced himself to Frontera’s chef-owner Rick Bayless that very night. “(Manny’s) sort of like me in that my life is my craft,” Bayless said. “Even though he’s not in the craft side of it, he treats the business side — the growing of the company — in the same way.”
Today, Frontera Foods, which the two men launched in 1996, sells millions of jars of salsa a year, as well as tortilla chips, enchilada sauces and simmer sauces.
“It has been fantastic,” said Valdes, who lives in Wilmette with his wife and two daughters. “I’ve had a phenomenal opportunity to participate in bringing true regional Mexican food to the United States.”
449 N. Clark St., 312-595-1624, fronterakitchens.com
Rev. Stan Sloan and Kristi Gorsuch
Sweet Miss Giving’s
A bakery builds its success on the quality of its goods. On that count, the lineup at Sweet Miss Giving’s (1229 N. Branch St.) — chocolate toffee pecan cookies to zucchini-walnut breads — is a winner. What sets Sweet Miss Giving’s apart? Job training for the once-homeless and HIV/AIDS affected.
Almost three dozen students have completed six weeks of training in baking, packaging, customer service and delivery since the program’s birth in late 2008; a six-month paid internship at the bakery follows; then some move on to food-service industry jobs.
Stan Sloan, an Episcopal priest and chief executive of Chicago House, created the program with input from experts, and tapped pastry chef Kristi Gorsuch to head the bakery operations and training effort. “We know how hard the food-service world is and how many places don’t make it,” Sloan said. “We came into it humbly.” Today, Sweet Miss Giving’s baked goods are sold at 54 locations. More than 50 percent of the bakery’s profits go to Chicago House, a 25-year-old social-service agency supporting the formerly homeless and HIV/AIDS affected.
Why baking? “With baking, it almost becomes a family project, reminiscent of being with your family in the kitchen,” said Gorusch. “They get confidence and satisfaction from that learning experience.”
Chicago French Market, 131 N. Clinton St.; sweetmissgivings.com
Adam Seger
Innovative bar chef
Adam Seger has raised the bar when it comes to Chicago’s cocktail culture. The Nacional 27 mixologist/sommelier made his reputation crafting drinks noted for their flavorful flair, fresh ingredients and ultra-primo hooch. He cemented his position with other beverage professionals through his collegiality and mentoring skills, while getting customers to belly up to the bar with his enthusiastic charm.
Who else could turn a strawberry, rhubarb, balsamic vinegar and basil mojito into such a hit that the drink sold out in four hours? That the drink sounds more like dessert than a cocktail is intentional. Seger likens the mixologist’s role at the bar to that of a chef in a restaurant’s open kitchen. He believes customers are looking for similar things from both: seasonality and top ingredients. He cares so much for quality that he founded Hum Spirits Co. and his first liqueur, Hum, debuted in November.
Seger’s motto is: “Drink like you eat.” That’s also the subtitle of his book-in-progress called “Whet.” “It’s more of a cocktail book disguised as a cookbook or vice versa,” he said.
Nacional 27, 325 W. Huron St., Chicago. 312-664-2727
Michelle Obama
Healthful-eating advocate
There’s a 1,100-square-foot organic vegetable, fruit and herb garden on the South Lawn of the White House. That patch of earth planted in March — the first time vegetables have been grown at the White House since Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency in the ’40s — has yielded 700-plus pounds of lettuce, radishes, tomatoes, collards and more for meals at the White House and a nearby homeless shelter.
That garden, first lady Michelle Obama told reporters, is “one of the greatest things that I’ve done in my life.” It also signaled the first lady’s efforts to improve America’s eating habits, tackle childhood obesity and encourage fitness. She began by bringing those efforts to her new home, where chef-working mom Cristeta Comerford runs the White House kitchen, by adding chef Sam Kass (whose track record includes work at Avec) to mentor her local-sustainable efforts.
Other first ladies have urged healthy eating at the White House (Hillary Clinton pushed for a low-fat menu, while Laura Bush encouraged organic foods). But Michelle Obama has, in her first year, moved food and nutrition issues front and center. Her efforts dovetail with our appetite for the food-tube (she kicked off this year with an appearance on “Iron Chef America”) and America’s awareness that what you eat plays a major role in your health.
Chicago and 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, D.C.
Didier Durand and Michael Tsonton
Activists for culinary freedom
When the Chicago City Council passed an ordinance banning the sale of foie gras, the expectation by some proponents was that the city’s chefs would express indignation, shrug their shoulders in resignation and quietly get back to work.
Not exactly.
“Quite simply, I was offended by a group of zealots bullying their personal agenda into my professional kitchen,” said Michael Tsonton, at the time chef-owner of Copperblue restaurant in Lake Point Tower and now at Hotel Sax.
For Didier Durand, chef-owner of Cyrano’s Bistrot & Wine Bar in River North, the ban was an affront to his heritage.
“I used to do foie gras farming side by side with my mother, Renee, back in France,” Durand said, “so I knew the animals were neither hurting nor scared.”
Durand and Tsonton organized Chicago Chefs for Choice, a grass-roots movement that fought the ban on several fronts. The group promoted speakers holding opposing views on foie gras production, organized fundraisers and exploited loopholes in the foie-gras ordinance with a little low-level civil disobedience.
Ultimately, Chicago Chefs for Choice, with considerable help from the Illinois Restaurant Association, helped create a climate that led to the ban’s repeal in 2008.
More Top Picks Best Cervical Traction Devices For Neck Pain
The foie-gras issue remains a controversial matter, but in Chicago it is no longer a legal one. These chefs took a stand, endured criticism and worse (Durand’s restaurant was vandalized at least twice), but fought City Hall and won.
Cyrano’s, 546 N. Wells St., 312-467-0546, cyranosbistrot.com; Hotel Sax Chicago, 333 N. Dearborn St., 312-245-0333, hotelsaxchicago.com