The initial names have been announced for chefs and institutions being considered for the annual James Beard Awards. There are several Milwaukee chefs on that list. But Milwaukee Magazine’s first-ever "Best Chef" honoree is someone who already has a Beard award under his belt.
Justin Aprahamian is the chef-owner of Milwaukee’s esteemed Sanford Restaurant. Despite his relatively young age, he has been at Sanford for a long time, previously under the direction of its founder, chef Sandy d’Amato.
Dining critic Ann Christenson profiles Justin Aprahamian in the March issue of Milwaukee Magazine, and she explains what makes him a worthy winner of the magazine’s first "Best Chef" distinction.
"He has that ability — which I’m sure a lot of really great chefs do — to be able to see that in their mind … I can see how that is going to work with this, and what this is going to look like in the end. Kind of like a painter is looking at a canvas, or a writer is seeing how that is going to play out," Christenson says.
