Celebrity Chefs cook up creations at Naples Winter Wine Festival

It’s one of the top 10 arts and entertainment events for wealthy Americans. 

Guests from all over the world attend the Naples Winter Wine Festival. The former president and first lady of France are among the 650 guests, with tickets starting at $17,500. 

All the money raised from the Festival Auction goes towards a variety of charitable programs which work to improve the physical, emotional and educational lives of at-risk children in Collier County. 

Also taking part in the festivities, 18 celebrity chefs. One of those chefs came to Southwest Florida from Miami. It’s like you can taste Chef Brad Kilgore’s passion for pleasing the palate. 

Kilgore told Gulfshore Life Magazine Food Editor Andrew Atkins he has traveled the world perfecting his culinary art. 

“When I started traveling and learning about, for example, Thai cuisine. I never knew anything could taste like that. Sweet, sour, salty, bitter, spicy, all at the same time explosion. And I said, ‘this is what I want to seek out, I want to create these sort of flavors,’” said Kilgore. 

Now the Chef does so at his restaurant, MaryGold’s Brasserie, in the Wynwood Arts District of Miami. He melds imaginative ingredients with meticulous technique to create culinary masterpieces. 

Kilgore, a James Beard “Best Chef South” nominee and Food & Wine “Best New Chefs in America” alumnus, was invited to the Naples Winter Wine Festival by Michelin-starred Chef John Tesar. 

“There’s chefs from all around the country that are there, some of the greatest chefs of the United States over several decades have come and cook. So it’s quite an honor to be invited to participate,” said Kilgore. 

Not only participate, but cook up a creation to feed the generosity of others.  

Schedule of Events for 2024 Naples Winter Wine Festival