Chef Sarah Grueneberg is the James Beard Award-winning chef and co-owner of Monteverde Restaurant & Pastificio in Chicago's West Loop. Since opening the restaurant with business partner Meg Sahs in 2015, Grueneberg has helped turn Monteverde into one of Chicago's most acclaimed dining destinations. The restaurant has been named one of Eater's "America's 38 Essential Restaurants" and earned Restaurant of the Year honors at the 2018 Jean Banchet Awards.
Originally from Houston, Grueneberg moved to Chicago in 2005 to work at Spiaggia under chef Tony Mantuano. She rose from line cook to chef di cucina in 2008 and became executive chef in 2010, helping the restaurant retain its MICHELIN star for three consecutive years. Her culinary career began at Brennan's of Houston, where she became the restaurant's youngest female sous chef in 2003.
In 2017, Grueneberg won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Great Lakes. She was the runner-up on Top Chef: Texas and later competed on Food Network's Iron Chef Gauntlet. Her approach to cooking, which she describes as "following the food," emphasizes understanding the people and cultures behind each dish. "Cook with your heart," she says. "Follow your food. That means knowing who made it, why they made it, who grew it."
Grueneberg is the author of Listen to Your Vegetables and has traveled extensively throughout Italy, Asia, and Europe, experiences that continue to inform her cooking. She lives in Chicago with her husband, Jaime Canete, Monteverde's managing partner, whom she met while working at Spiaggia.
