Chicago Culinary Museum and Chef's Hall of Fame, Chicago

Chicago may be a city of industry, of big shoulders, and of windy gusts, but it's also a city of food. Just ask the residents who frame their pasts with memories of dining at iconic restaurants or plot out their futures with reservations at new hotspots. Or better yet, ask the board and committee of Chicago Culinary Museum and Chefs Hall of Fame, a group wholly dedicated to celebrating the city's rich culinary life.

Ever since 2005, the group has been recognizing those who've taken Chicago's dining scene to new levels. They do so through an annual Chef's Hall of Fame bash, during which guests can sip drinks and mingle with some of the food industry's brightest stars. Past Hall of Fame inductees include legendary chefs Charlie Trotter, Rick Bayless, and Priscila Satkoff. The other years brings in luminaries such as Jimmy Bannos, Gram Elliot, Stephanie Izard, the James Beard award-winning chef behind Girl & the Goat and Little Goat. The organization operates beyond the annual bash too, by preserving rare kitchen artifacts, cookbooks, and fossilized silverware in a culinary museum.