All of Chicago’s Past James Beard Award Winners | Eater Chicago

"Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas’ highly anticipated follow-up to Alinea arrived in 2011 amid much buzz for several reasons. First is its unique concept: the entire restaurant changes its theme every “season,” offering a completely new menu and design three times a year. Secondly, diners have to prepay upfront for the cost of the meal by purchasing tickets on Kokonas’s reservation system, Tock. Despite the massive expectations, the restaurant managed to live up to the hype and was deemed the Best New Restaurant in 2012. Former executive chef Dave Beran followed that up with a Best Chef: Great Lakes win in 2014, and his successor, Jenner Tomaska (who opened his own restaurant, Esmé, last year with his wife Katrina Bravo, another Alinea Group veteran), was nominated for 2018’s Rising Star Chef award. Kokonas has since left Alinea." - Naomi Waxman