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Take everything that connotes Midwestern charm: effusive goodwill, love of community, and a killer work ethic, and you will find its embodiment in Chef Chris Pandel. His food is just as appealing—rooted in classic French technique and predominantly local Midwestern ingredients, Pandel’s cooking is rustic, yet refined. Pandel graduated from Johnson & Wales University in Providence, and then spent what he calls “graduate school” in New York City, at Café Boulud under Chef Andrew Carmellini. He soon returned to his roots in Chicago, as well as to a job at TRU, which led to a position as corporate chef at three of Chef Rick Tramonto’s restaurants. Of his mentors, Pandel says Carmellini molded him into a cook, and that under Tramonto, he earned a “sense of self” in the kitchen and the know-how to run a business. In 2008, Pandel opened neighborhood eatery, The Bristol. Located in Chicago's Bucktown neighborhood, Pandel’s menu features handmade pastas and charcuterie; farm-fresh, locally sourced produce; and a nose-to-tail approach to cooking. Balena, an ode to Italian influenced simplicity, opened in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood in March of 2012. Balena’s menu consists of handmade pastas; pizzas from the wood-fire oven; and locally sourced, farm-fresh meats and produce. Balena was included in Bon Appetit’s list of 25 best new restaurants in 2012, and was nominated for a James Beard “Best New Restaurant” Award. Pandel opened Formento’s on Chicago’s West Loop “Restaurant Row” in January 2015. Formento's is an Italian-American heritage restaurant with warm hospitality and polished service, reminiscent of a 1950's red sauce joint,” featuring classic Italian-American fare grounded in tradition. In October 2015 Pandel, along with Boka Restaurant Group and B. Hospitality Co. opened Swift & Sons, a retro modern steakhouse that celebrates the history of Chicago’s meatpacking district. At Swift & Sons Pandel provides the restaurant with his signature focus on high quality, locally sourced ingredients and classic cooking techniques presenting a menu of reinvented steakhouse classics, “boutique beef,” thoughtful vegetarian dishes and seasonal sides. Most recently, Pandel opened Cold Storage, located adjacent to Swift & Sons, in December 2015. The casual seafood concept offers an approachable menu of fresh seafood, salads, and sandwiches. Chris's Restaurants:Cold Storage (Chicago, IL)Swift & Sons (Chicago, IL)

For many of us, Wednesday is Hump Day. But for Hooni Kim, it’s Kimchi Day. At his Michelin-starred New York City restaurant, Danji, the Korean chef and his staff spin 40 heads of cabbage into the spicy, belovedly funky fermented dish. It’s an event that arrests all senses, which is why, Kim says, “I like scheduling things on Wednesdays” to get some fresh air.Kim didn’t go cabbage-crazy overnight. Although he was born in Seoul, he was first classically trained at the French Culinary Institute and earned his stripes at Daniel, Daniel Boulud's world-famous French flagship in New York. At around 11:30 PM, after a hectic evening shift, Boulud often ordered a special dining room to be set for a 20-course dinner. His guests were some of the best chefs in the world. “It’s not like that anymore,” Kim says. But Kim can still cook around the clock, a drive that would allow him to become a successful restaurateur in his own right.While working as a chef at Masa, one of New York’s finest Asian restaurants, Kim was inspired to recreate the flavors of his childhood travels to Korea on his own time. When his parents weren’t using their apartment on the weekends, he’d open up a so-called "private kitchen": free at first, for his friends, until they started booking him for parties and it became profitable. Kim eventually realized he could turn his extracurricular activities into a real restaurant. Using the money he and his wife had saved for 10 years to buy a house, he did just that, and opened Danji. "I should've been more terrified, but I was too busy to be terrified," Kim says.It was a risk that reaped big rewards. Kim’s classic French treatment of Korean ingredients and flavors, in dishes like kimchi poutine and Korean-BBQ style braised short ribs with pearl onions and pine nuts, was something New York had never seen. In 2012 Danji became the first Korean restaurant to receive a Michelin star; not long after, he opened his second restaurant, Hanjan, further uptown. The Times heralded Kim as "the city's leading interpreter of Korean cuisine."And now he’s your gateway to the fiery, vibrant, umami-rich cuisine of his birthplace. Kim will teach you how to make many authentic Korean essentials, including spicy pork belly, napa cabbage kimchi (don’t worry, it’s a one-cabbage version), seafood soft tofu stew, and an exquisite pot of short-grain rice—a must-have for nearly every Korean meal. The preparation is simple, the food stunning, and the instructor, ideal.Hooni's Restaurants:Hanjan (New York, NY) Danji (New York, NY)