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- [00:07]
Sylvia
From one Rotary center in Evanston, Illinois. This is a special collaboration of the Rotary Voices podcast and Supper with Sylvia.
- [00:18]
Narrator
They are two award winning restaurateurs with a mission of giving back, whether it be in the city or suburbs of Chicago, feeding refugees in war torn countries, or raising money for areas impacted by natural disasters. Chicagoans Tony Priolo and Sarah Stegner are critically acclaimed chefs. But first they are humanitarians. Chef Friolo's restaurant, Piccolo Sogno has been serving up some of the city's best Italian cuisine for more than 16 years. Celebrating 20 years in Northbrook, Sarah Stegner's Prairie Grass Cafe has taken the farm to table concept to new heights. But they joined forces to create a new organization made up of like minded chefs who, who wanted to help feed the hungry and homeless and connect with Jose Andreas. World Central Kitchen. It all started when Tony decided he had to do something after watching the war in Ukraine unfold on tv. And now their organization has raised more than a million dollars for humanitarian relief. Three years after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is my honor to be speaking with the co founders of the philanthropic organization, Chicago Chef's Cook, Tony Priolo and Sarah Stegner.
- [01:39]
Sylvia
Tony Priollo, Sarah Stegner, welcome to our podcast.
- [01:43]
Sarah Stegner
Thank you so much for having us, Tony.
- [01:46]
Tony Priolo
Thank you. Honored.
- [01:47]
Sylvia
So I wanted to start with how Chicago chefs began. And Tony, it started with you seeing what was going on in Ukraine. Take us back to that day. I think you were working out that morning.
- [01:58]
Tony Priolo
Yeah, it was pretty early in the morning. Like 5:30 in the morning. I was up watching TV while I was working out. My adrenaline is going and I'm watching this war begin live. And by the end of the workout, I said to myself, I'm like, I need to do something. You know, the devastation, it's not like a TV show. You're watching it.
- [02:19]
Sylvia
Real time war.
- [02:20]
Tony Priolo
Yeah, real time war. Bombing and stuff. I'm like, I need to reach out to my community. I've sent an email to like 20 or 30 chefs and then probably like 6, 30, 6, 45 in the morning. Giuseppe Tentori, text me right back. I just, I said, hey guys, considering what's going on, we need to do something. I'll do all the legwork. Who can be a part of it? Giuseppe Tauri, text me within seconds, said, I'm in, whatever you need. By the time I went to work, I had like 30 emails saying, Count us in, count us in. Sarah's like, hey, I want to be a part of this. I want to help. So it was like a train that never stopped.
- [02:54]
Sylvia
And, Sarah, you didn't even think twice about it. You immediately got involved.
- [02:57]
Sarah Stegner
Yeah. You know, that emotion that Tony had, we have to put action behind those feelings. I mean, I think that's at the heart of what chefs want to do when we try and make a difference in the world. And that call to action that Tony actually sent the email out and empowered the community to step up. That was beautiful. And, yes, of course I wanted to be a part of it. No hesitation.
- [03:18]
Sylvia
And where did you go from there?
- [03:19]
Tony Priolo
By the end of the day, I just called all my friends, including you. Friends in the media, friends politically, friends in the alcohol world, friends in the catering world, because I was envisioning having an event. Right. And everybody was supportive of it. And I wanted to go big because I wanted to raise a lot of money. And at that point, we had no idea what we're going to do with the money.
- [03:41]
Sarah Stegner
And Illinois Restaurant association, that's the political.
- [03:45]
Tony Priolo
And we had no idea where the money was going to go, too. So Sarah brought in some friends that worked at the Green City Market, and they're like, hey, we'll help you. We'll take all the money, and then we'll send the money out to where.
- [03:56]
Sarah Stegner
You want to go, like the administrative side of it and kind of helping us keep track. So Eda Davidman and Darren Guest stepped up and have helped us.
- [04:06]
Sylvia
So that brings us to the very first event. Let's talk about that. Because I was there, and what an event that was. It was an amazing night in that gorgeous ballroom. Right?
- [04:17]
Tony Priolo
Yeah. And I pushed for that. I called the Illinois Restaurant association, who was Sam and Toya and Mary Kay, who run that event. I'm like, I want the best location to showcase this, because we wanted to raise the most money. That's what we do. We cook. Right. So they put me in contact with some other people who are commissioners. I'm like, I want Navy Pier, because Navy Pier is iconic for Chicago. I figured. And it's like $300,000. I personally signed the contract that I was responsible for all that money.
- [04:49]
Sylvia
Kind of scary.
- [04:49]
Tony Priolo
Yeah, kind of scary. And the dates that they offered, it was two years to the day when we were shut down for Covid. So here was a big event going on, put up by chefs to help out people they have no idea, have never met. And I. I have no ties to Ukraine either. And we're going to do a party to raise money on the day that they were. We were closed. It was just all in line and.
- [05:16]
Sarah Stegner
You could feel the empowerment from the chefs. Like, they rallied and they understood that this was that moment in time to step out from all that we have overcome during COVID and the pandemic.
- [05:28]
Sylvia
So for people who have not been Navy Pier Grand Ballroom is iconic. It is absolutely stunning. It's huge. And to have that event there was spectacular. But what really blows my mind was how quickly you threw this together.
- [05:44]
Tony Priolo
Two weeks. Yeah, two weeks. Two weeks in the day. I think it was to the day.
- [05:47]
Sarah Stegner
It's crazy.
- [05:47]
Tony Priolo
And I called Danny Wirtz. He's with Breakthrough Beverage and the Blackhawks. I'm like this, hey, Danny, I want to do this event. He's like, we got all the boots. You got it donated, no problem. We got the tables donated, we got lights donated, sound system, everything. And I still didn't get a number from Navy Pier. So till the end. And Navy Pier was able, because it's a union, they were able to discount it down to almost like $50,000. We were surprised that they got it down that low. So more money was allowed to go to this charity. So we had 70 chefs coming together within two weeks. And we have an unsung hero. Zach Steen from Rick Bayless Group. He's the director of culinary operations. He's the one that organized all the chefs, like, what they're doing, what equipment they need. He was on the phone like crazy.
- [06:33]
Sarah Stegner
I called over there and I was like, can you help us with this? And I talked to Rick. I said, do you have somebody in your organization? And we connected with Zach, and he, like, didn't know what he was signing up for.
- [06:43]
Tony Priolo
Yeah.
- [06:44]
Sarah Stegner
And then, like, just went for it. And I didn't know till it was completely over what he actually does there and just being a chef. But he handled the organizational part of it, all the menus, and it was intense.
- [06:55]
Sylvia
So you guys just got to do the job of doing what you do best, which is feeding.
- [06:59]
Tony Priolo
Oh, we more than that. Within that two weeks, my wife and I had a 10 year anniversary. We had prior plans to go to Miami to celebrate on our anniversary. And I spent my whole day in Miami on the phone texting. I. I ruined our anniversary. My poor wife. Thank God she was very, very patient. I mean, it was so many sacrifices to get there because, you know, like, calling the media. Lynn Bramer, God rest his soul, because we asked him to be the emcee, said, tony, I can't do it, but I'm going to push this to hell for you. So he got Odyssey Radio. We had commercials on every station, constantly. I called you, you put us on the tv. Your outreach was amazing. The support we got from everybody in Chicago and Chicagoland area was huge.
- [07:48]
Sylvia
And that was just the beginning, because shortly after that, you did one for Ethiopia Relief, then you did Puerto Rico, and then the list goes on. But in between, Tony, you ended up going to Poland, right?
- [08:02]
Tony Priolo
Yep. So during that whole time we were organizing it, I reached out to the Illinois Restaurant association, and I said, hey, is there any way that you can help us get there to go cook and help. We'll pay for it all? And they tried political connections, and because it was war, they weren't able to. So I kind of just like, pushed it aside. And during it, Chef Paul Kahan from One Off Hospitality, said, tony, we need to go there. So I reached out to World Central Kitchen, and they said, yeah. So I reached out to Giuseppe, Paul, and myself and another gentleman, Eric Kleinberg, who was in the area of Ukraine. We all went down there.
- [08:38]
Sylvia
You mentioned Poland. I kind of. I wanted to. We didn't really talk about that experience, what that was like for you, if you could paint a picture for us of your short time there. What did you see?
- [08:50]
Tony Priolo
I mean, it was definitely eye opening. I was talking about it to one of my friends, and he's like, hey, I want to buy you guys plane tickets. I'm like, what? I mean, I'm okay. I don't take it. He's like, no, it's better than, you know, people putting up yellow and blue light bulbs in their entryway. I'm like, okay, I'll ask the other chef.
- [09:06]
Sylvia
He said, I'll pay for you guys to go.
- [09:08]
Tony Priolo
Yes. So I called Paul and I called Giuseppe, and they're like, yeah, why not? So we get to the airport, and he flew his first class to Poland. There and back, like, I took care of the hotel and the rental car. I mean, we all paid our own way, right? But then you don't really know what you're going to get into. Never even thought of it. We flew into Warsaw, then Krakow, and then drove three and a half hours nonstop. We get there, and we're picking up our friend Eric at a train station in Shemesh. This is the town. It's, like, literally bordering. It's like right across street is Ukraine. We look in the train station, small train station. It's mothers and children with shopping carts, plastic bags, grocery bags, or maybe one set of luggage waiting. And I got out of the car, I just started crying. And that's what we saw every day. And it was not. There was no class anymore.
- [10:02]
Sylvia
Everybody was on the same playing field.
- [10:05]
Tony Priolo
Yes.
- [10:05]
Sarah Stegner
And, like, the chefs in Chicago were aware that Tony and Giuseppe and Paul had gone. And of course, we all wanted to go, but we were sitting at the edge of our seats, kind of waiting to hear what had happened, because, remember, they're going into a war zone. And it was at the beginning, and we didn't know what was gonna happen. They were brave, and they were representing us. Like, we felt empowered that they were going. And then he sent those pictures of these women and children in the train station. And, like, you could feel the hush in the whole community. Like, it hit home.
- [10:38]
Tony Priolo
And that next night, and our time is all messed up. I secured a hotel room in that area. We were just, like, all emotional, jaws dropping because we had zero idea. We got to the kitchen two hours early. We had to go through a bunch of tests, health tests, and so we had to do these tests to be allowed to cook. We went in that kitchen, and I don't think any of us stopped. Constant flow. They'd have breaks. We didn't know anybody.
- [11:09]
Sylvia
We.
- [11:09]
Tony Priolo
We just busted our ass covered in sweat. I remember at the end of that day, we were probably there for 14, 15 hours, stinky, covered in sweat. We had one apron, no chef clothes, regular clothes. We were all washing our aprons in that little tiny, like, utility tub, drying them, trying to fall asleep. But you're so fired up, and I'm like, oh, did we even eat today? We forgot to eat, you know, but in that kitchen, the camaraderie in that kitchen, Chef Mark Murphy, who's on Food Network, he was running the show down there. He went down there for seven weeks on his own time, his own dime, just busting his ass. And he's pretty famous, you know, he's a hard working. He's an amazing chef. We're cooking for 30,000 people a day, just five guys.
- [11:54]
Sylvia
What's a memory of a particular person that you will never forget?
- [11:57]
Tony Priolo
So, like, during that time in the kitchen, you don't see what's going on. So, like, hey, we want to go to the front lines. So we'd finish all what we would do for the day and then grab a quick bite to eat. Then we'd go to the front line and serve the food. That's where it was just heartbreaking.
- [12:16]
Sylvia
What did you see?
- [12:17]
Tony Priolo
I remember one in particular. An older couple, probably 70s, very well dressed, covered in soot, and they had just come off across the border. We were the first people that they would See, and I don't speak Ukrainian or Russian. I have a little bit of Polish from Polish friends trying to give them water and they were like in shock. They didn't know what to expect. So I remember the wife looks to the husband and started like tearing up. So I started tearing up and she turns to him, says something and then she turns to me and bows and says thank you. Like a broken English. And that was like a defining moment right there. They had no idea what to expect. They would probably willing to buy things and we're giving it to them with hot food, hot soup. It was just. Yeah, that will always be in my mind that. And then there's another image right at the border. I remember talking, I saw this probably 80 year old man in a full on army outfit and I, I went, I'm like, hey, I just wanted to shake your hand. We don't talk to each other. Big smile on his hand. He said, American. I said, yeah. He said, Yuki. He like pointing at himself, he was saying me, Putin dead. Like he was going to go kill Putin. He was a Ukrainian guy, he came to the border from, I found out through translation, to get water to bring back to the front line.
- [13:45]
Sylvia
He's going to go back.
- [13:46]
Tony Priolo
Yeah. So we fed him, of course. But.
- [13:48]
Sylvia
Well, I'm sure that was a life changing trip.
- [13:50]
Tony Priolo
Yeah. And backtrack really quick. All the chefs, we all voted on where the money would go. And it was almost unanimously that it was gonna go to World Central Kitchen because the day the war started, they were already on the plane on the way there.
- [14:01]
Sylvia
And you work with World Central Kitchen regular, you have a official title with them, right?
- [14:06]
Sarah Stegner
Yeah, we're part of the chef's core, but we have continued to send money to them on numerous occasions.
- [14:10]
Sylvia
Yeah. So what is the World Central Kitchen? Chef's core.
- [14:14]
Tony Priolo
So if there's an emergency anywhere in any city, any, any country. So if there was something going on here, when there was that shooting in the suburbs here, they called me, said, tony, do you know any chefs that can help feed the people that were involved? Say if there was a disaster here, they would call Sarah and whoever else is in the chef court.
- [14:33]
Sarah Stegner
Yeah, it was actually Sol and Smoke that went up and helped in high school.
- [14:36]
Tony Priolo
Yeah. So, yeah, we called the great people there.
- [14:37]
Sylvia
Fourth of July parade. Tell me about that. I didn't know that.
- [14:41]
Sarah Stegner
Yeah, I mean they were looking for somebody to do response right away. So all the families, I mean people are traumatized. And so Smoke said their trucks were packed for an event. They rerouted and went and did it up there.
- [14:52]
Tony Priolo
We called Heather and they went and DeAndre Carter.
- [14:56]
Sylvia
So to let people know what you guys are referring to, here in Chicago, there's a suburb called Highland Park. There was a horrible shooting on the 4th of July as families went out to watch a parade and just enjoy themself. And someone came and opened fire. And it was a tragedy that is still hurting so many people. Lives were lost. And I had no idea that you guys were there to help. Wow.
- [15:22]
Tony Priolo
There was a fire, apartment fire in Park Ridge close by my home. And World Central Kitchen called me, say, hey, Tony, can you go see if they need our assistance? So I went there and scouted the area. Same thing. At that point, everything was taken care of.
- [15:37]
Sylvia
So that's one of the reasons why I wanted to talk to you. Because I think the mission of Rotary International is a humanitarian mission. I mean, we know they're involved with polio, they're involved with feeding people. So I feel like this is the perfect marriage. And the Chicago Chef Cook Organization. You're giving back to World Central Kitchen. You're giving back to neighborhoods I didn't even know about. This is something the first time I've heard. What a beautiful thing. It touches my heart even more. So to go back to your first fundraiser that started it all, how was it decided that World Central Kitchen was the best place because you know that they are there when they're needed immediately?
- [16:14]
Tony Priolo
Well, it was a chef driven idea where you're going to go feed people where people needed food. So we all voted on. We gave them a list of things and pretty much everybody said, we're all Central Kitchen.
- [16:23]
Sarah Stegner
Everybody said it. It was unanimous.
- [16:25]
Tony Priolo
Yeah.
- [16:25]
Sylvia
So now I kind of want to move on. I've talked to both of you about this on different occasions. And I think food is something that brings us all together. It's something that is nurturing. So I truly believe that that is at the core of the being of a excellent chef. Like, I think the core of both of you is to give back. I think of you as humanitarians and I'm curious. And we'll start with you, Sarah, how that got you to the direction that you are, because you are someone who helped to start the Green City Market in Chicago, which is a very large, well known farmer's market. Your restaurant, Prairie Grass Cafe in Northbrook, I think you're celebrating 20 years, by the way. Congratulations.
- [17:08]
Sarah Stegner
Thank you.
- [17:09]
Sylvia
And you have brought the farm to table concept to a whole new meaning. When I think about your food, Sarah, I think about the Yummy, delicious vegetables that you cook. And I know you're really big on sustainability. Why is all this so important to you? And where did this come from?
- [17:25]
Sarah Stegner
I think as chefs, we're in leadership positions and that idea of what we do, we cook and we give back to people. You know, I feel like that's like at the core of every single chef. And having that access to local, sustainable food, to me is so important. It's the answer to so many social issues we have in this country. It provides access and it helps with the environment, it provides jobs. It changes the way people view food and community. I've been a spokesperson for 20 years on this subject since I became a chef. And I feel really strongly that it's part of the fabric of our culture. And it's in Chicago, in many of these chef driven restaurants that have championed this. And I think all of this kind of comes together to that moment around the table where people can be nurtured, be taken care of, and have that experience of connecting. And not everybody has that privilege. And particularly people in these humanitarian crisis, they lose the basic essential of what it means to have humanity. And that's food. It's our nourishment, and that's what we wanna give to people. And when a chef in Chicago says, this is important to me, I need to do this, but not to have the structure behind that. Us providing that structure and helping and amplifying their voice. And like Tony said, it's not about us, it's about the impact that we're making, not only in the humanitarian side, but behind the scenes. What that means when you take a group of people that are empowered and what they can do and accomplish in positions of leadership.
- [19:08]
Sylvia
I think too, when I think of the Green City Market, I mean, you are one on one with these farmers. This was something that started small and just grew probably beyond your wildest expectations.
- [19:18]
Sarah Stegner
Yeah, absolutely. It's incredible how much traffic goes through that Green City Market. And it's people that are coming now just to see, to understand what has happened and to be part of that movement. I think that it's a tribute to all of Chicago chefs that Green City Market, as successful as it is, it's years and years of consistent purchasing and connecting and knowing who those farmers are, from iconic chefs like Jason Hamill and Rick Bayless having those relationships that feed the economy, the local economy of agriculture.
- [19:55]
Sylvia
Wow. And then Tony 2008 was when Piccolo Sonia opened, right?
- [19:59]
Tony Priolo
Yeah. Oh, yeah.
- [19:59]
Sylvia
Can you believe that? And so you were at some other restaurants in Chicago, including Cocopazzo. I know you were very involved in part ownership with them. You opened your own place. I know, because you wanted to have your own place, as most chefs would. But what I love about your restaurant and your food is it's very simple. It's absolutely delicious. And ingredients like Sarah and any good chef are really important to you. But as an Italian restaurant, you really source a lot of your products from Italy as well.
- [20:33]
Tony Priolo
Yep. Oh, yeah. And locally. So I remember when we opened in 2008, even prior to that, when I was at Coco Pazzo, the person that started the Green City Market, Evie Mandel, was a good friend. She was there all the time. And I got to know a lot of farmers, and I befriended a farming Green Acres Farm, third generation farm. And she allowed me to pick out vegetables that I could grow for my restaurant, which was amazing. And that was unheard of in 1997. So we were growing things like Treviso, Radicchio, Spigerello, and she was a predominantly Asian farmer, but she was growing stuff for me and at Coco Pazo, and it sparked like she was saying, I'm empowering her third generation family. I'm helping them, they're helping me. We never pushed it in the press or anything. We just did it, and it was fun. And it sends, like, for me, cooking Italian stems from my grandmother growing up in an Italian household. That's where it all comes from. I used to help her cook. She used to. We lived on the Northwest side. Kind of poor family, take two or three buses to go get an ingredient and then come back.
- [21:36]
Sylvia
Ingredients were important.
- [21:37]
Tony Priolo
Very important, very important. So that was, like, embedded in me as a child. And I always wanted to cook.
- [21:43]
Sarah Stegner
One thing Tony said about his relationship with Beth Echols from Green Acres, this is what community is built on. During COVID we held these conversations. They were called organic conversations. And actually it was Darren Guest that did it with me. And we talked with chefs and farmers on Zoom, and we interviewed 25 chefs about, were you still buying local during COVID And every time, the answer boils down to if I have the personal relationship with the chef. And that's what Green City strived to do, was provide that connectivity for all of us to the land and to the people that are working it. And when Tony did the call to action, he has so many relationships with chefs in Chicago. This community came together and then extended. I consider part of Chicago Chef's cook community is the media. It's the people that are the touch points to the public have rallied and stepped Up. So when we start to build community, it isn't just the chefs. It's the entire operation that makes it so valuable to connect with people.
- [22:48]
Sylvia
It's a village, right?
- [22:49]
Sarah Stegner
It does, exactly.
- [22:49]
Tony Priolo
It's a large village. Yeah.
- [22:51]
Sarah Stegner
Yeah.
- [22:51]
Sylvia
Tony going back to. Cause I know you know this. And Tony has olive oil and balsamic vinegar that he has brought in from Italy.
- [23:00]
Tony Priolo
We brought it in from Italy because we wanted it at the table. And then, funny enough, when we first opened, we had this 15 year age balsamic vinegar on the tables. People were stealing them.
- [23:09]
Sylvia
I understand that I might have been one of them.
- [23:11]
Tony Priolo
We were like, okay, we're gonna start selling this. Oh, if somebody would steal, we'd put it on their check. And then I have a great relationship with Mariano's, the CEO, and the prior family that owned it, they were close friends. And they're like, we want this in the store. So we started selling it to them. And it's more for marketing. We don't really make much money on it. And now we have pasta and sauce coming out too, which is great.
- [23:32]
Sylvia
I have to tell you guys, I think your balsamic is some of the best I've ever had. I call it liquid gold.
- [23:38]
Tony Priolo
Yes.
- [23:38]
Sylvia
And whenever I go to Piccolo Sono, I always tell people, if you don't eat bread, this is the one time I want you to have the focaccia with the balsamic and the olive oil. That focaccia is crazy good, and it's.
- [23:49]
Tony Priolo
Aged 15 years, and it costs us exactly what we charge. We don't make anymore. It's delicious.
- [23:54]
Sylvia
It is so good. Truly.
- [23:55]
Tony Priolo
Thanks for noticing. Yeah.
- [23:56]
Sylvia
So I am curious as you look to the future, because there's a whole new set of young chefs who are coming up throughout Chicago and outside. And I'm curious if there's any one in particular that you see that is going to be doing what you guys do, which is not only make amazing food and have great restaurants, but really giving way back to the community like you guys do. Like Rotary. Does that humanitarian instinct. Anybody stand out to you in our area?
- [24:27]
Sarah Stegner
Well, you know, Soul and Smoke, they are established chefs through food trucks and commissaries that they're doing barbecue. And DeAndre Carter has a fine dining background. Like, this guy knows what he's doing. This is amazing. His food is amazing. But what they have done is every single time people ask for help, they say yes, every single time. There is no limit.
- [24:56]
Tony Priolo
They've been doing it, and they just continue to do it without media. We don't.
- [25:00]
Sylvia
Right.
- [25:01]
Tony Priolo
I didn't do any of this to get any kind of media attention.
- [25:03]
Sylvia
Right. And I will say neither of you do anything to get media attention. It's just I often hear that you're up to something and then I reach out to you and I say let's promote this because I think it's so cool. So thank you for everything you do.
- [25:13]
Tony Priolo
But I also, I think you even interviewed me when I was, your team interviewed me when I was in Poland, too.
- [25:18]
Sarah Stegner
Yes.
- [25:19]
Tony Priolo
Yes.
- [25:19]
Sylvia
And both of you have created some life changing moments for other people, which is why I was happy to do this with you for Rotary because as I said, it's all about giving back. It's all about being humanitarians. That's a great story to end with because I think it really represents what both of you are all about. So Tony Friology, Piccolo Sonia Restaurant in Chicago. Sarah Stegner, Prairie Grass Cafe, thank you for joining us with Rotary Voices and the special collaboration with supper with Sylvia. I appreciate you both.
- [25:51]
Tony Priolo
Thank you.
- [25:52]
Sarah Stegner
Appreciate you too.
- [25:53]
Sylvia
Thank you.
- [25:53]
Tony Priolo
Big heart to.