Carrie Nahabedian

Growing up she was influenced in her cooking by her mother, but also by celebrity chef Julia Child. She later described watching Child as "like watching an artist painting". Nahabedian started her culinary career with a three-year apprenticeship at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Chicago. She then moved to Atlantic City, New Jersey, to become assistant chef to the garde manger at the Resorts Casino Hotel when it first opened.

She moved back to Chicago to work at Le Perroquet before moving onto a variety of restaurants in Europe before returning to the United States where she became the first woman to work at Chicago's Le Francais. She went on to work at a number of other Illinois-based restaurants. In 1989, she became sous chef at the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago, going on to become executive chef, which was her first time at that level. She stayed within the Four Seasons Hotels chain, moving to the Four Seasons Hotel Biltmore.

After eight years in California with the hotel chain, Nahabedian returned to Chicago to open her restaurant NAHA. It would go on to win a Michelin star and continues to hold one as of the 2012 edition of the guide.{{cite news |last=Vettel |first=Phil |author2=Pang, Kevin |title=Alinea, Ria, Charlie Trotter's among Michelin-starred restaurants in 2012 Chicago guid |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2011/11/15/alinea-ria-charlie-trotters-among-michelin-starred-restaurants-in-2012-chicago-guide/ |access-date=August 28, 2012 |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=November 15, 2011}}

In 2008, Nahabedian was awarded the James Beard Foundation Award for the Great Lakes region.{{cite news|last=Brett |first=Victoria |title=Top chefs of America |url=http://www.dailynewstranscript.com/business/people/x875592581/Top-chefs-of-America#axzz24sPfONWr |accessdate=August 28, 2012 |newspaper=Associated Press |date=June 18, 2008 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010232252/http://www.dailynewstranscript.com/business/people/x875592581/Top-chefs-of-America |archivedate=October 10, 2008 |df=mdy }} Mayor of Chicago Richard M. Daley named September 22, 2009 in honor of Nahabedian, the same day that she was inducted into the Chicago Culinary Museum's Chefs Hall of Fame.{{cite web |title=2009 Inductee Chef Carrie Nahabedian |url=http://thechicagoculinarymuseum.org/Carrie_Nahabedian.html |publisher=Chicago Culinary Museum |accessdate=August 28, 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120921041459/http://www.thechicagoculinarymuseum.org/Carrie_Nahabedian.html |archivedate=September 21, 2012 |df=mdy }}

Naha was given four AAA Motor Club diamonds for the first time in 2012.{{cite news |last=Vettell |first=Phil |title=Chicago ties NYC for most AAA Five-Diamond restaurants |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2012/01/20/chicago-ties-nyc-for-most-aaa-five-diamond-restaurants/ |access-date=August 28, 2012 |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=January 20, 2012}} As of the 2012 edition of the Michelin Guide, Nahabedian is one of only ten female chefs in the United States to hold a Michelin star.{{cite news |last=Wettenstein |first=Beverly |title=Who Are the Best Female Chefs? 10 U.S. Women Earn Michelin Star |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/beverly-wettenstein/michelin-star_b_1745511.html |accessdate=August 28, 2012 |newspaper=Huffington Post |date=August 8, 2012}}

Nahabedian is of Armenian descent, due to her Armenian grandmother Rose.{{cite news|last=Reiser |first=Lindsey |title=Carrie Nahabedian: Behind The Dish |url=http://www.tcwmag.com/carrie-nahabedian-behind-the-dish |accessdate=August 28, 2012 |newspaper=Today's Chicago Women |date=January 28, 2010 }}{{dead link|date=November 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

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Category:Living people

Category:1958 births

Category:American people of Armenian descent

Category:Chefs from Chicago

Category:American women chefs

Category:Head chefs of Michelin-starred restaurants

Category:James Beard Foundation Award winners

Category:21st-century American women