Foodie Friday: Meet Prairie Grass Cafe owner Sarah Stegner
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Sarah Stegner is a two-time James Beard Award-winning chef, a restauranteur, a philanthropist, and one of the mothers of the modern Chicago food scene.
It's been 20 years since she and her partner, George Bumbaris, opened Prairie Grass Café in Northbrook.
"When I decided to open the restaurant here, I had this image in mind of a place that was a neighborhood place that people would come to and feel at home and comfortable," she said. "But I didn't really know that that meant people come all the time. So it worked."
Before opening Prairie Grass Café, Stegner and Bumbaris also worked together for 21 years at the Ritz Carlton Chicago, where he was the executive chef of the hotel, and she was the executive chef of The Dining Room restaurant.
"We're not married. We are partners. We've worked together a long time," she said.
In 2004, they left the Ritz Carlton and brought their talents out to Northbrook, opening what would quickly become a community staple, and serving a cornucopia of local food, from farmers who have become Stegner's friends.
"I try to do that, because I feel like that's our vote. That's our vote. That's what we want. We want to have farms. We want to have great-tasting food. We want to have access," Stegner said.
But not just access for the chefs and restaurants, but for everyone.
To make that access more of a reality, Stegner helped to open Green City Market when they first started 25 years ago.
"I'm one of the founding members of the market; very proud of that," Stegner said. "Sustainable farms not only feed us in a positive way, but it also protects our land. It protects our access for future generations, and what I can spend in my restaurant towards local food, I try to do that."
The markets are open year-round in at least one of their three locations. Right now, it's the Avondale winter market that's open, and it is busy.
"It's people that are interested in protecting the land. It's gardeners. That's what Green City Market is. It's alive and thriving," Stegner said.
There are about 35 farmers and vendors in the massive space. The market is chock full of a variety of produce. They'll accept cash, card, or Link food stamp vouchers, which they'll triple match in vouchers that can be spend at the market just like cash.
"Clean food that is delicious should be available to everyone – everyone," Stegner said.
When she's not at the restaurant or in the market, Stegner's often got her hands full with some other philanthropic venture, including Chicago Chefs Cook, a nonprofit that brings together Chicago chefs to raise funds for humanitarian relief efforts in communities in need.
Their most recent project brought her to a photoshoot inside a Mariano's grocery store. They're making a cookbook with recipes from nearly 50 of the most sought-after culinary minds in the city. Proceeds from the cookbook sales will benefit Chi-Care Chicago, a nonprofit that helps feed the homeless.
"It's the chefs in Chicago that I have so much faith in. They're such good people, and they do so much philanthropic work," Stegner said. "I think Chicago chefs have always done that, and we're going to do what we can to make the world a better place."
That's only a fraction of the work Stegner does for her communities, something she said is just an intrinsic part of being a chef.