![\"Celebrity](\"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787943487_461_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nLast year, Relish: A Food, Wine & Spirits Experience made its debut in Newport Beach. Co-created by chef and Newport Beach resident Jamie Gwen and Cobalt Events event planner Nicole Hirsty, the culinary event brought Food Network chefs, wine purveyors and foodies together over three days.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are very humbled and very proud of the success of Relish 2025, our inaugural year. We are very excited to be coming back,\u201d Gwen said.<\/p>\n
She added that the team is planning to pack even more flavor and fun into year two.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started planning the day after Relish 2025,\u201d Gwen said, \u201cbecause that\u2019s what it takes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gwen is not only a chef herself, but a cookbook author, certified sommelier and radio and television personality. Gwen founded Relish with Hirsty in response to Newport Beach Food & Wine being put on pause indefinitely following the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Celebrity chef Jamie Gwen hosts RELISH: A Food, Wine & Spirits Experience in Newport Beach this summer. <\/p>\n
(Courtesy of Relish)<\/p>\n
Relish 2026 is set to take place Oct. 2-4 at VEA Newport Beach, a Marriott Resort & Spa and the Park Club in Costa Mesa.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had the chance to expand this year with a new partnership that we feel embraces the community and shares the love between two cities,\u201d Gwen said.<\/p>\n
The event begins with an opening cocktail party on the Sunset Lawn at VEA Resort Newport Beach on Friday Oct. 2. It will feature a bespoke culinary menu, cocktails and wine tastings, and this year\u2019s chef participants will also make an appearance.<\/p>\n
Participating chefs include chef Geoffrey Zakarian, pastry chef Sherry Yard of Spago fame, cheesemaster Afrim Pristine, chef Katie Chin, sommelier Rebecca Rose Phillips and chef Kat Turner, a two-time \u201cChopped\u201d champion and \u201cTop Chef\u201d season 22 contestant.<\/p>\n
Additionally, Gwen is announced the return of chef Scott Conant. The restaurateur and cookbook author, best known as a judge on the reality TV cooking series \u201cChopped,\u201d participated in Relish\u2019s inaugural year.<\/p>\n
\u201cChef Scott Conant is back by popular demand, he was our most requested to return,\u201d Gwen said. \u201cHe is just so full of heart and soul.\u201d<\/p>\n
The party continues with Relish After Hours at Reveal at VEA , the hotel\u2019s private club. Guests will have the chance to connect personally with the culinary talent while celebrating in the intimate setting.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Oct. 3, the day begins at AnQi at Bloomingdale\u2019s South Coast Plaza with \u201cFashion + Food at Bloomies.\u201d The luncheon will feature Zakarian and Conant and an exclusive fall fashion show from Bloomingdale\u2019s.<\/p>\n
\u201cFollowing the luncheon, we are going to do a first floor takeover, which is a no-ticket-required event,\u201d Gwen said. \u201cAnyone can come and taste and savor with some of our Relish partners.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Relish](\"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787943487_150_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Relish food, wine and spirits experience will dig into its second year in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa in October. Tickets are on sale now.<\/p>\n
(Courtesy of Relish
)<\/p>\n
That afternoon, guests can gather at the Park Club in Costa Mesa for a cheese and wine-tasting experience guided by Pristine, or master knife skills at a private Knife Class with Wolfe Cutlery. The Relish Culinary Icons Dinner at the Park Club on Saturday night will be a intimate multi-course dinner with Zakarian, Conant and Yard serving some of their signature dishes alongside Park Club executive chef Daniel Hohng.<\/p>\n
\u201cChef Daniel from the Park Club is an insane talent,\u201d Gwen said of the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts alumni who made a name for himself at South Coast Plaza\u2019s Hamamori and Wolfgang Puck\u2019s Spago in Beverly Hills. <\/p>\n
Sunday brunch will kick off the final day of the event on Oct. 4, with a theme of burgers and bubbles, a change from last year\u2019s sushi and donuts brunch. Relish will close with a wellness event on Sunday afternoon with a focus on nutrition, beauty and self-care with expert-led sessions, restorative treatments and health-conscious culinary offerings.<\/p>\n
Relish has an ambitious agenda this year, but Gwen said the expanded event schedule and multiple locations align with the long-term goals for the culinary event. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to continue to grow Relish every year and bring new talent, showcase new brands and highlight new trends so Orange County can keep its finger on the pulse of the food and wine world,\u201d Gwen said. \u2018We want people to come and take a seat at the table.\u201d<\/p>\n
Relish: Food, Wine & Spirits Experience will take place October 2-4 in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa. Tickets for individual events and packages are vailable at relishfoodwine.com. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last year, Relish: A Food, Wine & Spirits Experience made its debut in Newport Beach. Co-created by chef and Newport Beach resident Jamie Gwen and Cobalt Events event planner Nicole Hirsty, the culinary event brought Food Network chefs, wine purveyors and foodies together over three days. \u201cWe are very humbled and very proud of the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4464,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10],"class_list":["post-4463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrity-chefs","tag-celebrity-chef","tag-celebrity-chefs"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dnc\/117174671997940016","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}