Here Are The Winners Of Chicago's 'Food Oscars'

By Anthony Todd in Food on Jan 18, 2016 3:12PM

Sunday night, at a gala ceremony at Venue SIX10 in the South Loop, the winners of the Jean Banchet awards, Chicago's "local food Oscars" were announced. Chicago's entire culinary scene was in attendance, and if social media is to be believed, everyone had a heck of a good time.

Award recipients included:

Rising Chef of the Year: Beverly Kim and Johnny Clark of Parachute
Rising Pastry Chef of the Year: Kelly Helgesen of Lula Café
Best Restaurant Service: Billy Sunday
Best Mixologist: Jacyara De Oliveira of Sportsman’s Club
Best Neighborhood Restaurant: MFK
Best Sommelier: Liz Mendez of Vera
Bes Chef de Cuisine: Tony Quartaro of Formento's
Best Restaurant Design: Cherry Circle Room
Best New Restaurant: The Blanchard
Pastry Chef of the Year: Sandra Holl of Floriole
Chef of the Year: Chris Pandel of Balena/Bristol
Restaurant of the Year: Fat Rice

A culinary achievement award was presented to Chef Carrie Nahabedian of Naha and Brindille, and in memoriam segments were presented in memory of Yoshi Katsumura, Homaro Cantu, Maurie Berman and Max Sevier.

The list of recipients is exactly what you'd expect from a panel of local food writers—not a ton of hyped, PR-driven spots, a lot of love for some modern classics like Lula, Vera and Floriole, and a pick for Best New Restaurant that neither is downtown nor serves steak (though, we've gotta say, we kinda called it in our review).

Proceeds from the awards gala will go to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.