The James Beard Foundation Restaurant and Chef Awards Gala, which will be held in Chicago, outside the foundation’s hometown of New York, for the first time this year, will remain in the Windy City until at least 2017, according to the foundation and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
“Ever since we announced last year that Chicago would host the JBF Restaurant and Chef Awards Gala for its 25th anniversary, our great city has been electric with excitement and anticipation,” Emanuel said in a press release. “Chicago has a rich history with the Foundation, delivering restaurant and chef winners 23 out of 24 years with more than 40 James Beard Award winners to date. We are so proud to be welcoming this most prestigious of events for two more years.”
The Restaurant and Chef Awards ceremony and gala will be held this year at the Lyric Opera of Chicago on May 4. The Restaurant Design Awards will also be announced, as well as special achievement awards, including Humanitarian of the Year, the Lifetime Achievement Award, induction into the Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America, and America’s Classics, which are granted to longstanding, beloved, generally casual eateries across the country.
The foundation’s Book, Broadcast and Journalism Awards will remain in New York. This year they will be held on April 24 at Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers.
“We received a groundswell of enthusiastic support from chefs, restaurateurs and sponsors all across the country when we announced that the silver anniversary of the Awards would take place in Chicago,” Beard Foundation president Susan Ungaro said in the press release. “The entire city of Chicago has proven to be a generous and creative partner in planning this year’s Awards. Returning for two more years is not only exciting but offers continuity for even more opportunities for our Foundations most important event of the year.”
First held in 1991 as a relatively low-key booze cruise, the Beard Awards have become a highly publicized, weekend-long celebration of food and restaurants.
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