As chef and co-owner of the award-winning FnB restaurant in Scottsdale, Charleen Badman is one of Arizona’s most celebrated chefs. A James Beard winner for Best Chef of the Southwest 2019, Charleen is known as the “veggie whisperer” for her ability to coax the very best flavor out of locally grown vegetables, which are featured prominently – although not exclusively – on the FnB menu. Her unfussy, yet boldly flavored menu changes seasonally, and sometimes even week-to-week with tweaks based on what’s currently available from local farmers.
Join us April 21, 6:00pm, at this Dames-only event at Mille Fête for an intimate talk-story session with Chef Badman as she shares her passion for the Blue Watermelon Project, an Arizona program designed to increase students’ access to fresh foods from local producers. Sample tipples, sweets and savories from Mille Fête, an exciting new spot in Chinatown from James Beard Award-winning chef Dame Robynne Maii, her husband Chuck Bussler, and famed New York caterer Chef Katherine Yang, a graduate of the French Pastry Institute.
Early Bird Price – $45 until April 3. $55 thereafter, while supplies last.
About Chef Charleen Badman:
Charleen and FnB have won numerous awards, including a “Best New Restaurant” designation by every major Phoenix news media outlet in 2010. That same year, Food & Wine magazine selected Badman’s braised leeks topped with mozzarella, mustard, breadcrumbs and a sunny-side up egg as a “Top Ten Dish.” In 2013, Charleen and co-owner Pavle Milic were inducted into the Arizona Culinary Hall Fame as “Best Restaurateurs.” Prior to opening FnB in late 2009, Charleen was the sous chef at Café Terra Cotta in Scottsdale, the chef de cuisine at the famed Lobster Club in New York City and the chef/co-owner of the Greenwich Village restaurant, Inside.
Charleen is a past President of the Phoenix Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier, an international organization of women culinary leaders, an alumnus of the James Beard Boot Camp for Policy and Change and the founder of the nonprofit organization Blue Watermelon Project, comprised of a group of chefs, restaurateurs, and community food advocates that work with students, parents, educators, and the community to assist schools in rethinking relationships with food.
About Blue Watermelon Project:
Blue Watermelon Project, established in 2016, formed to increase access to fresh foods to students in partner schools. Currently serving in 30 partner schools spanning Phoenix and Tucson, Blue Watermelon Project is growing.
We see a future in which all people have a taste for a diverse array of food, one in which schools have served students fresh and healthy options, families have been given equitable and culturally-appropriate access, and all have been given the knowledge and freedom to be nourished, ready to learn and poised for academic and social success.