THE ANGUILLA CULINARY EXPERIENCE (ACE) ANNOUNCES 2024 GUEST CHEFS

Chef Zachary Engel of Michelin-starred Galit in Chicago, and Yannick Rochat from Saison by Mauro Colagreco at Raffles London will headline ACE from May 23-26

THE VALLEY, ANGUILLA, April 16, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Anguilla Culinary Experience 2024 (ACE) will welcome Guest Chefs Zachary Engel, James Beard Award-winner and executive chef and co-owner of Michelin-starred Galit in Chicago, and Yannick Rochat, sous chef at Saison by Mauro Colagreco at Raffles London at The OWO, when the destination-wide epicurean festival returns for its third year from May 23rd to 26th in Anguilla.

ACE brings together culinary talent and food-loving guests from Anguilla and around the world at the island’s luxury resorts, private villas and bespoke restaurants. During the four days of music-filled parties, collaborative dinners, beach barbeques, cooking competitions and tastings, talented local and international chefs, sommeliers and mixologists draw on their diverse influences and creativity as they share kitchens and showcase Anguilla’s fresh seafood and native ingredients. A portion of ACE sponsorships and ticket sales will help fund critical, educational programming for the island’s next generation of culinary and hospitality professionals. ACE 2024 event tickets can be purchased at www.AnguillaCulinaryExperience.com.

This year’s festival opens Thursday, May 23rd with a choice of tantalizing dining experiences. Chef Proprietor Alain Laurent of Jacala is partnering with Nathalie Le Sénéchal of Grands Vins De France Anguilla and Brian Bostwick of The Duckhorn Portfolio, to present a five-course, wine pairing dinner at the beachfront, Meads Bay restaurant. Guests will enjoy a leisurely evening of Napa Valley wines and French fare with Caribbean flair. Savi Beach Club will host Savor, Soirée & Sensation at its chic, seaside venue on Meads Bay. The epic evening will begin with a set dinner by Executive Chef Dario Schiavo and live music, followed by a comic, vibrant cabaret show, and after party with a DJ and dancing. Chef Engel will merge his Middle Eastern flavors with Chef Proprietor Carrie Bogar’s ‘Cuisine of the Sun’ at Veya Restaurant in Sandy Ground for Thursday’s Restaurant Night. The duo will alternate dinner courses and team up for dessert. At Bamboo Bar & Grill at Four Seasons Anguilla on Meads Bay, Executive Chef Manu Calderon will bring Caribbean flavors to life in a multi-course dinner with live music.

Both guest chefs are cooking on Friday, May 24th. Chefs Engel and Bogar will reunite on the oceanfront terrace at Villa Alegria on Cul de Sac to present a tasting menu. Hosted by ACE Co-chairs Neil and Wendy Freeman, the evening starts with cocktails and live music. Each course will be paired with wines selected by Bogar’s husband and Veya co-owner Jerry Bogar, and curated by Grands Vins de France Anguilla. Chef Engel will also share his industry insights with local culinary students at a morning Q&A session at Aurora Anguilla Resort & Golf Club.

At Altamer Luxury Villas on Shoal Bay West, Guest Chef Yannick Rochat is joining his brother, Chef Xavier Rochat of Anguilla, to present Flavors of Altamer, a Culinary Tapestry of Caribbean Cuisine. The gastronomic journey will spotlight a variety of ingredients that are indigenous to Anguilla and feature a rooftop cocktail hour with delectable, passed bites, followed by an oceanfront dinner. Also on Friday, the blissful shores of Maundays Bay will become the setting for a Barefoot Beach Dinner featuring live music and interactive culinary stations by Executive Chef Bruno Carvalho at Cap Juluca, a Belmond Hotel.

On Saturday, May 25th, Platinum ACE Sponsor Aurora Anguilla Resort & Golf Club will host its ACE signature party, A Taste of Aurora, at D Richard’s Steakhouse. Guests will embark on a grand, culinary tour featuring customized offerings from six of Aurora’s deliciously diverse restaurants – all in one place, all in one night. Partygoers can dine their way through a series of gourmet oases, sip cocktails made with fresh ingredients grown onsite at Aurora’s organic farm and hydroponic gardens, dance under the stars to a live band and enter for a chance to win raffle prizes.

On Sunday, May 26th, the fan-favorite ACE Beach BBQ + Basket & Bartending Battles, presented by NCBA, returns to the Anguilla Great House & Beach Resort on Rendezvous Bay. The grills will be hot, and the drinks cold as chefs from Paper’s BBQ, Tasty’s POV, Anguilla Great House and Roy’s Bayside Grill serve up gourmet burgers, slow-cooked brisket and grilled seafood, chicken and ribs, along with desserts by Heart & Soul Takeout, Catering & Confectionary. ACE-goers can mash sand (aka dance) to the DJ’s tunes, enter prize raffles, play trivia, make a kids’ craft with KidzKare and cheer on the members of the Anguilla National Culinary Team (ANCT) as they square off in this year’s mystery basket challenge and a new bartending battle. Chefs Engel, Bogar and Chef Proprietor Lowell Hodge of Sharky’s restaurant will judge the cooking competition and ANCT alum and International Bartender Hall of Fame-member Ron Webster will crown the champion of the inaugural ACE Bartending Battle.

Following the BBQ, everyone is invited to make their way to Malliouhana's beach bar and restaurant, Leon's at Meads Bay, for an ACE edition of the resort’s popular Sunday Funday. The festive gathering will feature live music, tropical cocktails and island-inspired fare from Head Chef Kelston “Sweets” Connor. Later that evening, Aurora Anguilla Resort & Golf Club’s Culinary Director Chef Michele Greggio, Executive Sous Chef Lester Gumbs and Sous Chef Karla Hughes will present a Farm-to-Table Garden Dinner. The alfresco feast will be held amidst the resort’s organic farm and be accompanied by wine selections by Aurora Sommelier Bernel Richardson and live music. Cocktails and courses will center around freshly harvested vegetables, fruit and herbs from the farm and Aurora’s hydroponic gardens.

Visit www.anguillaculinaryexperience.com for more information and to buy tickets. Tickets are sold a la carte, allowing festival goers to customize an itinerary that fits their style, palate, and budget. Contact anguillaculinaryexperience@gmail.com with questions or to become an ACE sponsor.

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