With the sweltering summer months upon us, Hotel Valley Ho in Scottsdale has launched its Sip + Shop Summer Market Series paired with Celebrity Chef Dinners.
On select Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. they’re bringing that local farmers market feel inside to the comfort of their air-conditioned Sands Venue. Take advantage of the free indoor market series that’ll take place July 15 and Aug. 19.
Each market showcases some of their favorite wine and spirits, local chefs and purveyors. As live music fills the room, expand your palate and savor six tastings of wine, beer and spirits. Guests will also receive a 20% off voucher to use at their renowned resort restaurant, ZuZu.
While browsing around the market and tasting their featured drinks, you’ll also be able to purchase food by some of the top local chefs.
New this year, each Sip + Shop event will offer a three-course Celebrity Chef Dinner available for purchase. Make sure to get your dinner tickets online prior to the event because you don’t want to miss out. Your dinner ticket price is all inclusive to each dish and drink pairing.
Each celebrity chef dinner features a menu created by Executive Chef Russell LaCasce and the guest chef. You’ll also get the opportunity to talk to the people behind the delicious food, the events feature celebrity chefs and Chef LaCasce, during a meet-and-greet reception.
I joined in on Celebrity Chef Lindsay Autry’s dinner June 17 and to say the food was absolutely delectable is an understatement. You may recognize her name from being a finalist on Bravo’s ninth season of “Top Chef.” With two restaurants, The Regional in West Palm Beach and Honeybelle at PGA National Resort, she’s also received three consecutive James Beard nominations for Best Chef: South.
What makes these dinners even more unique is that you get to watch while they prepare the food. It’s a whole presentation showing all the ingredients going into the food, how it’s prepared and then the best part, tasting each course paired with wine.
Chef Autry and Chef LaCasce started out the night with Florida Seafood Gumbo sorghum, Key West pink shrimp, white water clams, country-style sausage and fried okra paired with DAOU Sauvignon Blanc. For the entree they served a blackened world-class 14-ounce ribeye, short rib raviolo, braised pickled swiss chard, grilled shishito peppers and cipolini onion. This was perfectly paired with DAOU Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon.
And of course, you can’t forget about dessert! Paired with DAOU Rosé was an Atlantic Beach Pie with sea salt cracker crust, lemon curd and candied honeybells.
The next upcoming celebrity chef is Robert Irvine, a world-class chef and entrepreneur, owner of Public House at the Tropicana in Las Vegas, Fresh Kitchen within the Pentagon and FitCrunch. Collaborating with LaCasce, they’ll be serving their dinner menu on Friday, July 14.
On Aug. 18, Chef Rene “Chito” Andrade and Chef Beau MacMillan will be taking over the kitchen. If you’re a fan of Guy Fieri’s game show on Food Network, “Guy’s Global Games,” you may recognize Chito. He appeared on an episode to present cuisine inspired from Nogales, Mexico, his hometown. If you can’t make the dinner you can make a reservation at Bacanora in Phoenix or Espiritu in Mesa where he’s the chef.
MacMillan is a two-time James Beard Foundation award nominee for Best Chef: Southwest. He also was the executive chef at Elements, a restaurant at Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain. When put against Iron Chef Bobby Flay in “Battle American Kobe Beef” on Food Network’s series “Iron Chef America” back in 2006, he came out on top. Cala, a Mediterranean and coastal-inspired restaurant in Scottsdale was recently opened by MacMillan.
It’s safe to say that if you attend any of the Celebrity Chef Dinners, you won’t be disappointed.
Hotel Valley Ho is located at 6850 E. Main St. More information on the Sip + Shop Summer Market Series can be found here. For more information and to purchase tickets for one of the Celebrity Chef Dinners, click here. For more information on Hotel Valley Ho, visit hotelvalleyho.com.
