Unique Experiences

Item Description

The Charlie Awards are named after the legendary restaurant, Charlie’s Café Exceptionale, which was a mainstay in downtown Minneapolis until the 1980s. The awards were created to recognize the organizations, businesses and individuals that comprise that our metro area food and restaurant industry to ensure a diverse, vibrant and creative lifestyle and economy. The Charlies were the inspiration of Minnesota’s own culinary expert and James Beard award-winning food journalist, Sue Zelickson.

The Charlie Awards recognizes the exceptional contributions of the Twin Cities metro area food and restaurant industry, including:

• Restaurants
• Corporations and businesses (e.g. food suppliers, vendors, retailers, wholesalers)
• Institutions (e.g. hospitals and schools)
• Beverage manufacturers and suppliers (e.g. breweries, wineries, distillers, coffee, beer and wine crafters)
• Culinary schools
• Chefs
• Restaurant staff (e.g. wait staff, bartenders, maitre de, pastry chef)
• Bartenders
• Food Trucks
• Coffee Shops

The awards will consist of two components – individuals and businesses honored by their peers and outstanding food recognized by the public and industry leaders. Awards for individuals and businesses will be determined by a vote of all restaurants participating in the Charlie Awards. Each restaurant participating will have one vote in the following categories, with the individual/business having the most votes in each category receiving recognition:

Lifetime Achievement
Community Hero
Outstanding Chef
Outstanding Emerging Chef (a professional working for less than five years)
Outstanding Service
Outstanding Restaurateur
Outstanding Restaurant
Outstanding Food Truck
Outstanding Interior Design
Outstanding Pastry Chef
Outstanding Bartender
Outstanding Local Craft Brew
Outstanding Cup of Coffee

Food receiving recognition will be determined by both the public and a panel of experts. Any non-
franchised restaurant or food truck may enter one food item they believe is representative of their
establishment. The food items will be grouped in the following neighborhoods (may be subject to
change based on number of entries):

Downtown Minneapolis
Northeast Minneapolis/North Metro
South Minneapolis/South Metro
St. Paul/East Metro
Twin Cities West Metro

Any member of the general public is invited and encouraged to vote online for their favorite food item. Voting will begin on October 15th – check back then to see this year’s nominees!

The two food items in each neighborhood receiving the highest number of votes will become nominees.
A panel composed of local multi-industry professionals will evaluate each submitted item, and then
ultimately select one food item in each neighborhood to be recognized at the Charlie Awards.

The panel consists of professional who will be selected from the following industries:

Culinary Arts Schools
Caterers
Distributors
Wholesale Food Producers
Institutions (i.e. Hospitals, Corporations, Schools)
Public Members (i.e. Enter to Win contests, etc)

Item Special Note

The centerpiece of the celebration is the main show on Sunday, November 11, beginning at 2 p.m. Held at the Pantages Theatre in downtown Minneapolis, the award show will be 90 minutes packed with live entertainment, awards, local restaurant personalities and comedy. Preceding the show will be a brunch sponsored by Mpls.St. Paul Magazine beginning at 11:30 a.m. at the Brave New Workshop. There will also be an after-party sponsored by Minnesota Monthly from 3:30 – 5:00 pm in the IDS Center Crystal Court.