Chicago Tribune food critic Louisa Chu was one of three finalists announced Wednesday by the James Beard Foundation as nominees for distinguished restaurant reviewing.
Chu, named the Tribune’s co-food critic in 2021, was nominated for reviews published last year of three restaurants that underscore the diversity of Chicago’s dining scene and Chu’s approach to covering it: French-Canadian restaurant Dear Margaret in the heart of Lincoln Park; Edgewater pizza joint George’s Deep Dish; and Cambodian restaurant Hermosa on the West Side.
“The nomination is just as much for Dear Margaret, George’s Deep Dish and Hermosa, and every incandescent restaurant that moved us to tears during the pandemic with not just their beautiful food, but the heartbreaking and inspiring stories behind them,” Chu said Wednesday.
Also nominated by the Beard Foundation with the Craig Claiborne Distinguished Restaurant Review Award were San Francisco Chronicle critic Soleil Ho and Bill Addison of the Los Angeles Times. Winners will be announced in June.
Chu, born in Hong Kong, has lived in Chicago since the age of 2 months. Her dining industry roots date to the age of 4, in the 1970s, when she folded menus at her family’s Chinese-American restaurant on the Near West Side.
After working as a server through high school and college, Chu graduated from Le Cordon Bleu Paris. She worked as a cook for a year at storied Parisian restaurant Les Ambassadeurs and spent time in the kitchens of Alinea, El Bulli, Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée and an Alaskan fishing lodge.
She has written for CHOW and Gourmet magazines, worked as a field coordinator for Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations” series and co-hosts the food-driven “Chewing” podcast.
Chu joined the Tribune in 2016. She has written about exploitation of restaurant workers, chronicled how Chicago’s Black-owned restaurants have weathered the pandemic, and celebrated iconic Chicago dishes including Atomic Cake and peanut butter-spiked egg rolls.
Chu touted the support of “our journalists at the Chicago Tribune (editors, photographers, designers) who will continue to persevere” and, like any good critic, couldn’t resist a pointed jab, calling the Beard Foundation nomination “a testament to the supremacy of Chicago-style pizza.”
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