Interview with Executive Pastry Chef Anna Young of Café des Architectes – Chicago, IL

Pastry Chef Anna Young is inspired by seasonality and nostalgia. “I try to think about not just what I like, but what our guests respond to,” she says. “Some dishes begin with a simple childhood memory – a piece of candy or chocolate.” Young discovered her love of pastry arts while studying at the Culinary […]

Interview with Executive Chef Greg Biggers of Café des Architectes – Chicago, IL

Chef Biggers hails from Alabama, where he grew up watching his mother prepare Chicken and Dumplins’, a Saturday favorite. While attending Johnson & Wales University in Charleston, South Carolina, Biggers worked at Blossom Café as a Pastry Cook, learning the art of baked breads and pastries. Later, he served as Private Dining Chef and then […]

Café des Architectes at Sofitel Chicago Water Tower Hotel.

“Bonjour!” was the first thing I heard when I entered the luxurious lobby of the Sofitel Water Tower Hotel. The relaxed atmosphere and attentive staff are very welcoming and though I am tempted to linger awhile, my focus today is on the hotel’s crowning jewel, the restaurant Café des Architectes. The dining room has an […]

Interview with Executive Chef Jim Morse of the Boathouse Restaurant in Old Mission Peninsula, (Traverse City) Michigan

The Boathouse’s culinary team is headed by Executive Chef Jim Morse. Chef Jim is a fourth generation Northern Michigan native and attended culinary school at the Great Lakes Culinary Institute at Northwestern Michigan College. He started working at The Boathouse as Sous Chef in 2000, and became Executive Chef in 2002. Jim then moved to […]

Boathouse Restaurant in Old Mission Peninsula, Michigan

The Traverse City area of northern Michigan is the Nantucket of the Midwest; just a few hours drive north of Chicago, it offers both coastal charm and warm Midwestern hospitality. Farms, vineyards, and artisanal food producers dot the landscape, creating a culture of locally produced cuisine most exquisitely demonstrated by the menu at the Boathouse […]

The Michelin Guide 2015 Star Gala – Chicago, IL

To most of us, the stars stand motionless in the heavens; beyond reach and imagination, we struggle to grasp the enormity of the universe and to understand our place in it. But for some the stars are more than mere points of light, they are shifting constellations of genius, and those of us lucky enough […]