Chicago chef Charlie Trotter dies at 54
Award-winning US chef Charlie Trotter, a self-taught culinary master whose eponymous Chicago restaurant elevated the city's cuisine and provided a training ground for some of America's other best chefs, has died at the age of 54.
Award-winning US chef Charlie Trotter, a self-taught culinary master whose eponymous Chicago restaurant elevated the city's cuisine and provided a training ground for some of America's other best chefs, has died at the age of 54.
Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said rescue crews were called at about 10am on Tuesday to his home in the city's Lincoln Park district, where they found Trotter unresponsive. Langford said an ambulance crew transported Trotter to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he died after unsuccessful attempts to revive him.
The Cook County medical examiner's office said it was notified, and an autopsy was scheduled for yesterday.
Trotter's name is synonymous with US gourmet cuisine. He earned 10 James Beard Awards, and among the well-known chefs he trained was fellow Beard Award-winner Grant Achatz of Chicago restaurants Alinea and Next.
He was so innovative and focused and intense and really brilliant
Trotter opened Charlie Trotter's in 1987 with his father, Bob, as his partner. Over the next quarter century he became known for menus with fine ingredients: naturally raised meat, line-caught seafood and organic produce.