charleen badman

As chef and co-owner of the award-winning FnB restaurant in Scottsdale, Charleen Badman is one of Arizona’s most celebrated chefs. As 2019 James Beard recipient for Best Chef of the Southwest, Charleen is known as the “veggie whisperer” for her ability to coax the very best flavor out of locally grown vegetables, which are featured prominently – although not exclusively – on the FnB menu. Her unfussy, yet boldly flavored menu changes seasonally, and sometimes even week-to-week with tweaks based on what’s currently available from local farmers.

Charleen is a past President of the Phoenix Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier, an international organization of women culinary leaders, an alumnus of the James Beard Boot Camp for Policy and Change and the founder of the Blue Watermelon Project, a Slow Food Phoenix coalition of local chefs and activists focused on improving school lunches.