FEASTiVAL – Celebrity Chef Tasting
Thursday, May 21st
7:30 pm - 10:00 pm
Harrah's New Orleans Theatre
Hosted by New Orleans' Chef John Besh

The 18th annual New Orleans Wine & Food Experience (NOWFE) is excited to announce the addition of its newest premier event, an inaugural celebrity chef gala. FEASTiVAL, which will bring together some of America's favorite celebrity chefs for a "feast" of signature dishes paired with select wineries, will take place on Thursday, May 21st from 7:30 pm until 10:00 pm at Harrah's New Orleans Theatre hosted by New Orleans' Chef John Besh.

Celebrity chefs include Paul Kahan, Michel Richard, Marc Vetri, Neal Fraser and Rick Browne. Chef Kahan, owner of Chicago's Blackbird, avec, and The Publican, has been recognized as a Food & Wine Best New Chef, James Beard Foundation Best Chef Midwest, and a nominee for the James Beard Foundation Outstanding Chef Award. Among his many accolades, Michel Richard, chef of Michel Richard Citronelle and Central Michel Richard in Washington, DC, is the winner of the 2007 James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Chef, 2008 James Beard Foundation for Best New Restaurant, and the author of the JBF nominated Happy in the Kitchen. Marc Vetri, executive chef and owner of Philadelphia's highly acclaimed restaurants Vetri and Osteria, won the James Beard Award for Best Chef Mid-Atlantic, and recently published a cookbook including more than 125 of his most-requested dishes. Chef Neal Fraser, hailing from the West Coast, garnered much of his culinary experience from such luminaries as Thomas Keller and David Burke before opening his Los Angeles restaurant GRACE, where he serves New American cuisine. Rick Browne, considered America's #1 barbeque guru, is a renowned barbecue and grilling expert and the author of The Big Book of Barbecue Sides, Grilling America and The Frequent Fryer Cookbook, and co-author of The Barbecue America Cookbook.