Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Chicago Chefs Hall of Fame: Paul Kahan, Alain Roby Among Six Inductees

By DNAinfo Staff on August 15, 2013 9:37am  | Updated on August 15, 2013 4:39pm

  Paul Kahan was named Chef of the Year and Alain Roby was named Pastry Chef of the Year by the Chicago Culinary Museum and Chefs Hall of Fame.
Paul Kahan, Alain Roby Among Six Inductees to Chicago Chefs Hall of Fame
View Full Caption

CHICAGO — Chefs Paul Kahan and Alain Roby were among six Chicago area culinary minds to be inducted into the Chefs Hall of Fame Thursday.

The Chicago Culinary Museum also honored Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises founder Richard Melman for his impact on the restaurant industry.

Swiss-born steak chef Hans Aeschbacher, French cuisine chef Jean Banchet, and Louis Szathmary, the late and former chef of the long-shuttered Bakery in Lincoln Park, were also named "Legendary Chefs" by the museum.

Since 2006, the Chicago Culinary Museum has honored the likes of Charlie Trotter, whose eponymous restaurant shuttered last year, Rick Bayless, known for his Mexican restaurants, and Priscila Satkoff, who opened her own restaurant Salpicón after working alongside Bayless.

The Hall of Fame is part of a larger goal to get a physical museum in the city "to promote and celebrate Chicago as a culinary mecca," said museum President John Kauffman ahead of Thursday's announcement ceremony at Kahan's Publican Quality Meats.

"Our goal is to have a brick-and-mortar building to celebrate Chicago's past and present," Kauffman said. The museum has been in talks with the city since the organization's inception, according to the president.

The chef behind Blackbird, Publican and avec in the West Loop, Kahan shared this year's James Beard Award for the nation's best chef with David Chang of New York City.

"Paul, you always delight when you open a new place and you amaze by making the previous one better," Didier Durand, the event chair for an October fundraising dinner for the organization, told Kahan.

Kahan said his restaurant empire was built thanks to his strong team.

"What we do, we do as a group," Kahan said. "The reason we are so successful is we have four or five or six minds in the room."

Roby worked at the Hyatt Regency Chicago for 24 years before overseeing all pastries for the hotel chain.

He also owns three entries in The Guinness Book of World Records: the World’s Tallest Cooked Sugar Building, the World’s Tallest Chocolate Sculpture and the World’s Longest Candy Cane. Today, Roby helms the All Chocolate Kitchen in Geneva.

"Anything you seem to touch seems to turn to chocolate," Durand said.

Roby called the honor "certainly one of the highlights in my culinary career."

Melman wasn't present at the event, but museum officials said he confirmed for October's dinner where all six inductees will be honored.