Chef

John Hogan brings years of expertise, a stellar gourmet track record and an utterly pretenseless approach to the American cuisine of Keefer's. Hogan has been recognized for both innovative haute cuisine and perfectly executed simple fare with his signature twists. For Keefer's, Hogan has developed a menu of Chicago-style dishes based on American classics, particularly steak and seafood. In Hogan's own words, "This will be very simple, The challenge will be to do it perfectly... The easiest things done well are harder than the toughest things done mediocre."

Born in Chicago, John Hogan's love of food began when as a child he watched his mother prepare meals for his father, " My father would get home late from work and she'd cook a separate meal for him... I'd see her making bechamel sauce, or she'd make Welsh rarebit, which nobody eats. And I thought it was great. So I was always invited to sit with them if I wanted because I enjoyed it." Hogan's early love of food continued in his late teens and early twenties when he began going to Chicago's finest French cateries and recreating the dishes at home. He channeled his youthful exuberance and enrolled in Dumas Pere cooking school in Glenview.

Before joining Keefer's, Hogan was both the chef and proprietor at Savarin, a Unique French Parisan restaurant in Chicago. Savarin recieved phenomenal awards and critical acclaim and was named one of "America's Top 50 Restaurants" by Travel & Leisure, one of the "Best New Restaurants" of 1999 in Chicago magazine, the "Award of Excellence" from Wine Spectatator, "Best Restaurant of 1999" by Esquire magazine, and restaurant reviewer Phil Vettel of the Chicago Tribune named Hogan one of the top 10 chefs in Chicago.