If you are looking for one of the next great chefs in the world you need to look right here in the Land of Lincoln. A chef in Illinois just won one of the highest honors a chef can win in a brand new category. Here are the details...

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NBC Chicago shared the winners of the James Beard Awards for 2023, winning a James Beard Award for being a chef would be equal to winning a Grammy if you are a musician, or an MVP award if you are an athlete. This year there was a new award category to recognize up-and-coming future star chefs and the winner of that award is right here in Illinois, a chef named Damarr Brown. According to NBC Chicago...

"Damarr Brown, of Virtue, was crowned the winner. "It's really exciting," Brown said of winning. "You know, a lot of people, my friends lost... People I've read about and looked up to for years, so I'm just really excited to be in a room." Brown is the chef de cuisine at Virtue in Hyde Park, the same southern-inspired restaurant where Chef Erick Williams won a prestigious James Beard Award in 2022."

What is Virtue? It is in the Chicago neighborhood called Hyde Park on the near south side of the city, I have never been there but if you look up their website it seems as though Virtue specializes in high-end southern-style cooking. The menu at Virtue has things like Shrimp & Crawfish, Lemon Chicken, Catfish, and Red Snapper, for more information on Virtue click here!

Congrats to Damarr! Chicago is such a great food city, and hopefully seeing something like this will inspire you to try a new restaurant the next time you head up to the Windy City instead of just eating at Navy Pier again for the 100th time...

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