James Beard Award-Winning Chef Paul Kahan's Breakfast Routine

Welcome to My Morning Routine, where we take a look at how people kick-start the day. And by "people" we mean celebrities.

When you own four restaurants, one bar, and one of the Chicago's best sandwich-butcher-retail shops like chef Paul Kahan does, there's really no such thing as sleeping in. Add James Beard Award winner (along with David Chang, he took home the trophy for Outstanding Chef after last night's ceremonies) and urban gardener to that list, and you've got a (very early) morning person. We caught him after his daily bike ride and a few espressos to talk about his morning routine.

While Gabe is out, I walk in front and get the Chicago Tribune and I read it at the table in the kitchen. I always read the sports page first, and this time of year, April, it's all about hockey. I'm a Chicago Blackhawks fanatic. My wife is a yoga teacher--I mean, a serious, heavy duty yoga teacher who's been teaching for 30 years--but when she puts on the Blackhawks jersey, she can scream like a truck driver. Pretty serious about her hockey. Around this time of year, I'll go in the backyard and garden for 45 minutes to an hour. I just weed and I'll plant one row or another, transplant something. I also have a bunch of hoop houses in the garden for the cool weather, but right now I'm getting ready for the warmer months, which I'm excited for.

I try to ride my bike almost year round to and from work, which is about 7 or 8 miles away. First I swing by Big Star, check in on the guys, say hello. Then I'll go to the farmer's market and shop. Generally, if I get there by 9 a.m., I can meet one of the other chefs: David from Blackbird, or Brian from the Publican, Erling from Avec. Sometimes they're all there at the same time--that's usually on Wednesdays and Saturdays. We shop together, walk the market, talk to purveyors, drink coffee, talk about ideas for dishes.

After that, the day is spent between all the restaurants, wherever I'm needed, basically. This last year was really the first time in my career that maybe four nights a week I'm home at 8 p.m. having dinner at home with my wife, which is great. We have amazing chefs in each restaurant who I work super closely with, and some of them have become partners. We've had a lot of these people with us for years and years and years and it's their turn, you know? I just do my best to mentor and taste everything, and work on developing new concepts and ways to run a restaurant better and more sustainably.