Florida chef Norman Van Aken will host a reception in December at the swanky Orlando Ritz-Carlton to honor Charlie Trotter, a Chicago-based chef who died in 2013 and was revered as one of America's top culinary talents and restaurateurs.
So why do we care about the legacy of a Chicago chef in Central Florida? Because artisans such as Trotter influenced the way many of our award-winning chefs have crafted their culinary styles.
The food industry is made up of an intriguing band of brothers and sisters. It can be a pretty small world when you begin to make the connections of who worked where and with whom before they made their mark in the Sunshine State.
Van Aken, for...