Atlanta restaurateur I. Pano Karatassos will be recognized at the Culinary Institute of America’s 2025 Leadership Awards.
Karatassos is one of five who will receive the Augie Award. Named after French legendary chef Auguste Escoffier, the award honors people who have shown leadership and innovation in the culinary field.
The awards ceremony will take place in New York City. The event is the Culinary Institute’s largest annual fundraiser in support of student scholarships.
Karatassos opened his first restaurant, Pano & Paul’s, in 1979. The restaurant closed in 2009 and its success helped lay the foundation for what would become Buckhead Life Restaurant Group.
Over the past four decades, the group has grown to include nine well-known restaurants in Atlanta and South Florida, including Chops Lobster Bar, Kyma, Pricci, and Bistro Niko. His sons, Pano and Niko Karatassos, now serve as co-presidents of the company.
The four other honorees of the upcoming event include restaurateur Elizabeth Blau of Blau + Associates restaurant development firm in Las Vegas, Nevada; Brandon Chrostowski, founder of EDWINS Leadership and Restaurant Institute in Cleveland, Ohio; Colorado-based chef Ann Cooper, whose foundation is dedicated to school food reform and childhood nutrition; and Marcus Samuelson, the chef behind restaurants across the U.S. including Atlanta’s Marcus Bar & Grille Restaurant on Edgewood Avenue. The celebrity chef has won eight James Beard Foundation Awards, according to his website.
“I am honored to be recognized alongside other culinary legends with the Augie award from the Culinary Institute of America,” Karatassos said in a statement. “This award motivates us all to continue pushing boundaries and celebrating the rich culinary heritage that shapes the community.”
Karatassos played a key role in bringing other chefs to Atlanta, including Gerry Klaskala, who moved to the city in 1987 to open Buckhead Diner. Klaskala recently announced his retirement as chef of Aria, one of Atlanta’s longstanding fine dining restaurants.
The man, myth and legend! One of a kind!
Thank you Pano!