Lula Cafe is Chicago’s sole James Beard Restaurant and Chef award winner for 2024

Lula Cafe was announced as the only winner from Chicago at the 2024 James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards ceremony held at the Lyric Opera House Monday. The awards are widely considered one of the highest culinary honors in the United States. For almost a decade, Chicago has been the award show’s home and a major winner.

Lula Cafe won in the Outstanding Hospitality category.

Other local nominated chefs included Sujan Sarkar of Indienne, Jenner Tomaska of Esmé and Anna Posey of Elske.

The ceremony was livestreamed on Eater.com and hosted by a group of chefs including Nyesha Arrington, Richard Blais, Amanda Freitag and Marcus Samuelsson, as well as CBS host and correspondent Michelle Miller.

Lula chef and owner Jason Hammel, 2019’s Jean Banchet Chef of the Year and three-time Best Chef: Great Lakes category nominee, took the stage with family and staff after Lula Cafe won for Outstanding Hospitality.

“We truly believe at Lula that hospitality is love. And it’s a love with conditions and we believe that the conditions can be fair and just and kind,” Hammel said. “And I hope that everyone here and in the world and especially those with power will enact policies that protect and ensure that these conditions can be met and maintained for everyone. We will certainly hold ourselves to that goal.”

It was the first James Beard award win for the Logan Square staple. The cafe has been run by Hammel and wife Amalea Tshilds for over 25 years and partners with local organizations to offer meals to the neighborhood.

“This one’s really special to me because it’s a team award that recognizes all of us,” Hammel said on the red carpet. “Hospitality isn’t just about relationships with guests. It’s about relationships between us … It’s an important, real central value for how we run our business and I’m really proud to be recognized for this.”

After his win, Hammel elaborated, explaining that he thinks chefs need to step up and enact policies that support hospitality workers. Lula Cafe offers health care to full-time employees and Hammel said offering health care “would greatly help the restaurant industry.”

“It’s an unusual night, but I’m proud to represent,” added Hammel of his solo win. “I’ll sing from the rooftops the praises of Chicago restaurants. They’re great people … all nominees should feel very proud.”

Other restaurants competing in the Outstanding Hospitality category included Crawford and Son in Raleigh, North Carolina, Gemma in Dallas, Melba’s in New York and Woodford Food & Beverage in Portland, Maine.

Earlier in the ceremony, Kasama chefs Genie Kwon and Tim Flores presented in the Best Chef: Great Lakes category, which they won last year. But in a rare loss for Chicago in the category, chef Hajime Sato of Sozai in Clawson, Michigan, took home the award.

Sato spoke of collaborating with Chicago chefs and others in the Great Lakes.

“I always go back to sustainability,” Sato said. “Chicago … the Great Lakes region, let’s work together. That’s more important than anything.”

Sujan Sarkar of Indienne and Jenner Tomaska of Esmé represented Chicago in the Great Lakes category, but ultimately did not take home the win. Both Esmé and Indienne have one Michelin star. Vinnie Cimino of Cordelia in Cleveland and Jose Salazar of Mita’s in Cincinnati were also finalists.

On the red carpet before the awards, Tomaska said he’s “honestly humbled to have found a fantastic team to uplift our message at Esmé.” He also acknowledged another Chicago nominee, Hammel, saying the Lula chef was “the staple of Chicago and has been for 20-some years.”

Several Chicago restaurant institutions have won in the Best Chef: Great Lakes category over the past two decades, including Grant Achatz of Alinea in 2007; Koren Grieveson of Avec in 2010; Stephanie Izard of Girl & The Goat in 2013; Sarah Grueneberg of Monteverde in 2017; and in 2019, Beverly Kim and Johnny Clark of Parachute, which has since closed.

Early in the night, Atsuko Fujimoto of Norimoto Bakery in Portland bested Chicago’s Posey of Elske in the Outstanding Baker or Pastry Chef category. The Danish-influenced Elske has been nominated twice before. Alongside husband and partner chef David Posey, Anna Posey and the team at Elske have maintained a Michelin star since 2017.

Other chefs nominated in the Outstanding Baker or Pastry Chef category included Susan Brae of Moon Rabbit in Washington, D.C., Jesus Brazon and Manuel Prazon of Caracas Bakery in Doral, Florida, and Miami, and Crystal Kass of Valentine in Phoenix.

All four Chicago finalists this year have received multiple culinary honors and recognition from the Michelin Guide. Lula Cafe was named a Bib Gourmand winner in 2020, while Esmé, Indienne and Elske all have been awarded one Michelin star.

Several Chicago restaurants and chefs were semifinalists in other categories but did not make it to the list of final nominees this year, including John Shields and Karen Urie Shields for Outstanding Chef; Nicolas Poilevey, Oliver Poilevey and Marcos Carabajal for Outstanding Restaurateur; Zubair Mohajir for Emerging Chef; Duck Inn for Outstanding Restaurant; and Atelier for Best New Restaurant.

Other notable winners from around the country include Dakar NOLA for Best New Restaurant, Erika Whitaker and Kelly Whitaker of Id Est Hospitality Group in Colorado for Outstanding Restaurateur, and Masako Morishita of Perry’s in Washington, D.C., for Emerging Chef.

Chef and previous Beard nominee Elizabeth Falkner is a member of the James Beard Foundation board of trustees. She complimented the cultural and regional diversity of the awards.

“We have so much great culture and food and cuisines across the country everywhere,” Falkner said.

The event marks the third year since major changes at the foundation as a result of critique from the broader industry. The James Beard Foundation held an audit in 2021 to address criticisms of bias and lack of transparency, which reorganized the committee and voting body behind the awards to better align with the foundation’s stated values. The foundation also implemented a code of ethics for potential awards participants, which lists some behaviors as against the foundation’s and the awards program’s ethics, including tip-stealing, discrimination, harassment and abuse. Those found in violation of the code of ethics after an investigation may be disqualified.

The awards have been held in Chicago since 2015 and guests from outside the culinary industry also attend. Taking the stage, Mayor Brandon Johnson touted the city’s food and dining scene.

“Chicago is home to more than 50 James Beard Award-winning chefs and restaurants whose food, talent, passion and brilliance continue to put our city on the map,” he said.

It was a quieter year for Chicago’s restaurants than in previous years; in 2023, Damarr Brown of Virtue won in the Emerging Chef category alongside Kasama’s Best Chef: Great Lakes win. But chefs and industry professionals at the event were excited about the city’s food scene.

“Chicago is such a world-class food city,” Blais said on the red carpet. “It’s just a fact. You walk up and down the street, there’s just so many great restaurants, so many great chefs.”