Restaurants foster connection and conversation, furnish an escape from the day-to-day routine and, from hamburger to haute cuisine, transform sustenance into bliss. Restaurants are economic drivers, too. In 2017, labor analytics research firm Emsi noted that more people in the region worked in restaurants than in any other field; that’s not counting the other spokes in the wheel, such as farmers, janitorial staff and laundry services, that make the industry run.
This list is dedicated to everyone who works in the hospitality industry. To that end, I’ve decided not to name executive chefs in each restaurant’s information bubble, as is typical for our list. This isn’t meant to diminish the importance of an executive chef to a restaurant; instead, see it as a reflection of the reality that restaurants are a holistic operation.