There are plenty of reasons to love Chicago and one of them is the food. Whether you want authentic Mexican in Pilsen, flaming saganaki in Greektown, fresh vegetarian fare in Edgewater, soulful smothered chicken at Army & Lou’s on the South Side, an herb encrusted New York Strip in the Loop or the flavors and spices of Southeast Asia on Devon Avenue, Chicago feeds well.
So on the heels of last year’s win by Frontera Grill’s Rick Bayless, this year, five Chicago chefs — the most contestants from one city — are in the field of 22. For this week’s Chicago Explainer story, I created a culinary tale of the tape of Second City’s five local contestents.
David Burke, Marcus Samuelsson, Rick Tramonto, Tony Mantuano,
and Graham Elliot Bowles bring James Beard awards, Best New Chef awards and cuisines from Scandinavian and African fare, authentic regional Italian and Contemporary American to French fusion to the table.
Here’s a download-able version of the graphic (©Darryl Swint | windycitizen.com).
The Chicago chefs are also on Twitter:
Graham Elliot Bowles: http://twitter.com/GrahamElliot
David Burke: http://twitter.com/DBOnion
Marcus Samuelsson: http://twitter.com/MarcusCooks
Rick Tramonto: http://twitter.com/Cheftramonto
Tony Mantuano: http://twitter.com/tmantuano
Bravo TV’s Top Chef Masters: http://twitter.com/topchefmasters