Chicago's Erick Williams wins James Beard Award

\Why it matters: Of the nine local nominations, only Chef Erick Williams of Virtue took home some hardware.

• He won the award for Best Chef: Great Lakes Region after nominated for the same award in 2020.
• Williams beat out fellow local chefs Jason Hammel of Lula Cafe, Noah Sandoval of Oriole and John Shields and Karen Urie Shields of Smyth.

What he's saying: "I didn't get here of myself or by myself. I got here by way of my community and by my culture," Williams said in his acceptance speech.

Of note: Even though many of the local nominees lost, Erika Allen of the South Side-based Urban Growers Collective was awarded a Leadership Award on Sunday.

The big picture: Resuming the in-person event brings much-needed tourism and tax dollars — not to mention prestige — as we recover from the pandemic. The awards capped off a weekend of festivities that seemed to bring the city back to life.

• "For the world to come back to Chicago to celebrate the culinary arts is tremendous," Mayor Lightfoot tells Axios. "The people in this industry have been through a lot over these last two years."

💭 Monica's thought bubble: It was an exciting year between interviewing all the winners for our other Axios newsletters and being sent down to the Civic Opera House basement when tornado warnings went off.