Alpana Singh

Coming Up

Master Sommelier is the credential that frames Alpana Singh’s work in wine, and the list of rooms around it shows the range: Bakers Square, Nielsen Bros. Market in Carmel, Everest in Chicago, Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, Check, Please! On WTTW/PBS, The Boarding House, Seven Lions, Terra & Vine, and Alpana. The throughline is not novelty; it is service, buying, hosting, and public-facing wine work across restaurant floors, media, and ownership in Chicago and beyond. The earliest roles in that list — waitress at Bakers Square and sales clerk at Nielsen Bros. Market in Carmel, California — sit alongside the more specialized work that followed: sommelier at Everest in Chicago, Illinois, and director of wine and spirits at Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises in Chicago, Illinois. The shift from floor work to wine leadership is visible in the titles themselves. Broadcast work became part of the practice as well. Singh was host at Check, Please! (WTTW/PBS) in Chicago, Illinois (2003–2013), later returning as host of Check, Please! (WTTW/PBS) (since 2018). She also wrote Alpana Pours: About Being a Woman, Loving Wine, and Having Great Relationships (from 2006), bringing wine to print without stepping away from the restaurant trade. Ownership marks the next layer: restaurateur and owner at The Boarding House in River North, Chicago, Illinois (2012–2018), judge at Food Truck Face Off (Food Network) (2014–2015), restaurateur and owner at Seven Lions in Chicago, Illinois (until 2017), restaurateur and owner of Terra & Vine, and chef and restaurateur of Alpana. The list tracks a career that moves from service to authority without leaving hospitality behind.

Where They Are Now

Chef and restaurateur at Alpana in Chicago’s Gold Coast places Singh in a role that joins kitchen leadership with ownership. It sits within the same field as Terra & Vine and the long-running wine and media work, keeping the public-facing and operational sides of the trade in the same frame.

In Their Words The line "change begins by understanding where we come from and honoring each other’s terroir." points to a wine vocabulary that is cultural as well as technical. It is a reminder that sourcing, place, and respect for difference are part of the same conversation. "I just fell down the rabbit hole." is the shorter version of sustained obsession. In trade terms, it reads as repeated contact with the work until the work becomes the work.

Honors

Singh’s honors place her inside the peer-recognition tier of the trade: Sommelier of the Year, 30 Under 30, Wine & Spirits Professional of the Year, Best Sommelier, Best Sommelier in America, and 40 Under 40. The awards point to reception from both wine and hospitality circles, not a single lane.