Female chefs and restaurateurs in the Chicago area have banded together for Women’s Restaurant Week to encourage consumers to support women-owned restaurants. Presented by Let’s Talk and supported by the Illinois Restaurant Association, Choose Chicago and the James Beard Foundation (JBF), the six-day event will kick off on Women’s Equality Day, Wednesday, August 26, and runs through August 31.

Some of the participating restaurateurs and restaurants include Sarah Stegner, Prairie Grass Cafe; Beverly Kim, Parachute and Wherewithall; Carrie Nahabedian, Brindille; Danielle Dang, HaiSous;  Amy and Clodaugh Lawless, The Dearborn; Sandra Holl, Floriole; and Rohini Dey, Vermilion (a JBF trustee and Let’s Talk founder).

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This photo shows Sarah Stegner, owner of Prairie Grass Cafe and a founder of Women's Restaurant Week

Sarah Stegner, Prairie Grass Cafe

“The idea came out of a Let’s Talk group Zoom call with women chefs involved in the James Beard Foundation,” said Stegner, a two-time James Beard Award winner. “It was smart to band together to face the COVID19 challenges, learn from each other and encourage customers to support our women-owned restaurants,” she said.

Women’s Restaurant Week is led by the Chicago JBF “Let’s Talk” Forum to which seventeen Chicago-area women restaurateurs belong. Their purpose is to support each other and survive the coronavirus crisis together.

Women’s Restaurant Week is open to all women-owned restaurants, bakers and food-related and beverage businesses. Each business will offer a special dine-in meal, product for sale, delivery, or pick-up offer to showcase their business to Chicagoland.

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Learn more about Windy City participants in Women’s Restaurant Week at their websites below:

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