Sarah Grueneberg
Sarah Grueneberg is the James Beard Foundation Award-winning chef/partner of Monteverde Restaurant & Pastificio in Chicago’s West Loop and author of Listen To Your Vegetables.
Since her childhood cooking with her grandparents on their ranch in Victoria, Texas, Houston born-and-raised Grueneberg knew she was destined to work in the culinary world.
After graduating from culinary school in 2001, she started her first career-changing job with a position at the iconic Brennan’s of Houston and by 2003 was named the restaurant’s youngest female sous chef. Grueneberg’s ongoing travels have taken her throughout Italy, Asia, Europe and the U.S., inspiring her culinary approach of “following the food” and truly understanding “the dish” by knowing the people and culture that created it.
Grueneberg moved to Chicago in 2005 to join the team at the award-winning Spiaggia under the leadership of Tony Mantuano. Beginning as a line cook, she quickly rose the ranks to Chef di Cucina in 2008 and then Executive Chef in 2010.
Grueneberg opened Monteverde in November 2015 and in 2017, she received the James Beard Foundation Award for “Best Chef: Great Lakes” and was a semifinalist for “Outstanding Chef” in the 2019 & 2020 awards.
Monteverde has earned acclaimed reviews from various outlets, including a three-star review from The Chicago Tribune. In 2016, Monteverde was named one of Food & Wine’s “America’s Best Restaurants,” a top 50 finalist in Bon Appetit’s “Best New Restaurants,” Eater’s “21 Best New Restaurants in America,” GQ’s “12 Best New Restaurants,” Eater Chicago’s “Restaurant of the Year,” the “Worth the Wait” award in Chicago Tribune Dining Awards and named one of Chicago Magazine’s “15 Best New Restaurants.” In 2017, Monteverde was named one of “America’s 38 Essential Restaurants” by Eater and then awarded “Restaurant of the Year” in the 2018 Jean Banchet Awards.
Grueneberg has been a competitor and finalist on Bravo’s “Top Chef: Texas” and Food Network’s “Iron Chef Gauntlet” and was featured in the Chicago episode of “Somebody Feed Phil.” She has also been named a “Rising Star Chef” by Chicago Social magazine in 2009 and 2016 and Eater Chicago’s “Chef of the Year” in the 2011 Eater Awards. In fall 2022, Grueneberg published her first cookbook, Listen To Your Vegetables.
Bailey Sullivan
A native of La Grange, IL, Bailey Sullivan is Chef di Cucina of the award-winning Monteverde Restaurant & Pastificio, a contestant on Season 22 of Top Chef and she was named a Rising Star by Starchefs in 2021.
Bailey was born into the hospitality industry and has always known she wanted to cook. Her dad has owned Goldyburgers, a storied burger joint and beer garden, for over four decades, however, it’s not where Bailey got her start in the kitchen.
While earning her Bachelor’s Degree from Kendall College, Bailey interned at the two-Michelin-starred, Coastal New England-inspired restaurant Acadia, where she worked both savory and pastry before joining the kitchen at Yusho Logan Square, where she became captivated by Asian ingredients, flavors and the art of ramen. Bailey made the most of the restaurant’s monthly Ramen Battles, which allowed her to meet and cook with some of the city’s best chefs—most notably, Sarah Grueneberg, chef/owner of Monteverde Restaurant & Pastificio.
After graduation, Bailey worked at the Michelin-starred Parachute for a year before pursuing her deep-rooted love of noodles and a desire to learn the intricacies and art of hand-made pasta and regional Italian cuisine under Grueneberg, the James Beard Award-winning chef and “Top Chef” finalist.
Bailey immediately fell in love with Italian ingredients and sensibilities, and over the course of more than eight years, she has worked her way up the kitchen from line cook, sous chef, purchasing sous and executive sous to her current role as chef di cucina. Known for embracing seasonal produce and global flavors with an Italian hand, Bailey has earned a reputation for embracing the “atipica” side of Italian cuisine—blending tradition with bold, whimsical twists.