Chef
Andrew Klemen
- Discipline
- Chef
- Based in
- Chicago, Illinois, United States
i. Biography
Andrew Klemen is Executive Chef of Orange Garden Restaurant in Chicago, where casual dining is treated as a working format rather than a lesser category. The line runs through brunch, café cooking, locally sourced American fare, and a neighborhood restaurant built for daytime and evening use. In that register, the craft is not built on spectacle; it depends on recognizable meals carrying enough point of view to be remembered. The earlier vocabulary at Orange used familiar morning food as material for adjustment: fruit wrapped like sushi, coffee roasted with citrus peel, breakfast and café culture handled with a sense of format as well as flavor. The 2013 opening of Range Restaurant shifted the frame toward locally sourced American fare, with a more ingredient-led structure. At Orange Garden Restaurant, those references gather into an accessible café model with enough definition to earn Cheap Eats in North America recognition in 2023 and 2024 under the restaurant Andrew Klemen leads.
The Climb
Contemporary café cooking asks for discipline because the guest already knows the category. At Orange Garden Restaurant, Andrew Klemen’s present work is defined by that problem: keeping approachable food clear, useful, and specific enough to carry an identity. The climb is compact and legible. Orange gave the early work its play with brunch format, including fruit wrapped like sushi and coffee roasted with citrus peel. Those details sit inside a craft habit: treating the expected meal as a place for small changes in shape, aroma, and memory. The 2013 opening of Range Restaurant marked a different register, centered on locally sourced American fare and the grounded appeal of American cooking tied to place and ingredient. By the time the work reaches Orange Garden Restaurant in Chicago, the through-line is accessible dining with a point of view. The kitchen language stays close to food people return to — brunch, café plates, American fare, everyday meals — while resisting anonymity. Its momentum is built through consistency, usefulness, and a clear read on what a neighborhood restaurant has to deliver across the day.
Today
Klemen now serves as Executive Chef at Orange Garden Restaurant in Chicago. His work there is Contemporary American brunch and café cooking, set inside an accessible, quality-driven format for daytime and evening dining. The present restaurant makes the lineage practical. The brunch imagination of Orange, the American-fare framework of Range, and the neighborhood café structure of Orange Garden Restaurant all point to a kitchen built around everyday dining with defined details. At Orange Garden Restaurant, approachability is the working constraint. The room belongs to neighborhood rhythms: bright morning use, steady midday meals, and comfortable evening dining. Andrew Klemen’s role as Executive Chef gives that rhythm a center. The cooking remains contemporary without losing café warmth, American in outline, and organized around the idea that a regular meal still needs to feel considered.
Recognition
Andrew's honors include Cheap Eats in North America, ranked #455 for Orange Garden Restaurant (2024) and Cheap Eats in North America, recommended for Orange Garden Restaurant (2023). Cheap Eats recognition measures a specific kind of craft: value, satisfaction, and repeatability without erasing personality. For Orange Garden Restaurant, the Cheap Eats in North America mentions in 2023 and 2024 place the restaurant in the working category of neighborhood dining that is accessible but not generic. Under Executive Chef Andrew Klemen, that recognition fits a kitchen concerned with daily use, clear identity, and food built to bring people back.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Andrew
What is Andrew Klemen's current role?
Andrew Klemen is Executive Chef.
What recognition has Andrew Klemen received?
Cheap Eats in North America, ranked #455 for Orange Garden Restaurant (2024).
What is Andrew Klemen known for?
Contemporary American brunch and café cooking at Orange Garden Restaurant.
