Orange Bowl Food & Wine Celebration Presented By Florida Blue Returns April 28 With Celebrity Chef Kenny Gilbert

Celebrity Chef Kenny Gilbert is set to headline the Orange Bowl Food & Wine Celebration presented by Florida Blue. The celebration, which will take place on Friday, April 28 at the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, is Orange Bowl’s signature fundraiser with more than $150,000 in proceeds benefiting Make-A-Wish Southern Florida, Special Olympics Florida and Orange Bowl Cares.

Attendees will enjoy unlimited food tastings from more than 30 of South Florida’s top restaurants and chefs, headlined by the event’s 2023 Celebrity Chef – Kenny Gilbert, VP of Culinary Operations at Grove Bay Hospitality Group. In addition, guests will be treated to a selection of wines, craft beers and signature cocktails. To date, this year’s confirmed restaurants include Abiaka, Bayshore Club Bar & Grill, Divieto Ristorante, Fireman Derek’s Bake Shop, Fogo de Chao, concepts from the highly anticipated Regatta Grove, Toro Toro and others, with more restaurants added daily.

General admission tickets are $100 and can be purchased online at orangebowl.org/obfw, by calling the Orange Bowl Ticket Office at 305-341-4701 or by e-mailing tickets@orangebowl.org. VIP tickets are sold out.

The event will also feature live entertainment throughout the night, raffle prize giveaways and a silent auction. The numerous exciting prizes include a Celebrity Cruises 7-day Caribbean cruise package, luxurious hotel stays and autographed sports memorabilia.

A panel of celebrity judges will rate each dish to determine who will take home the awards for Best Miami-Dade Restaurant, Best Broward Restaurant, Best Overall Restaurant and Best Dessert, while all attendees get to vote for the People’s Choice Award for Best Bite and Best Dessert.

“We are so excited to for this year’s Orange Bowl Food & Wine Celebration presented by Florida Blue, which provides us a unique opportunity to give back to the community in a fun and enjoyable way,” said Orange Bowl Committee President & Chair Yvonne Johnson-Phillips. “We could not do this without the generous support of the restaurants and chefs donating their time and resources to a great cause, and we are thrilled to welcome hundreds of attendees to this magnificent culinary experience.”

Headlining the Orange Bowl Food & Wine Celebration presented by Florida Blue is Chef Kenny Gilbert, an award winning-chef and restaurateur. He is best known for his appearance on “Top Chef” Season seven, where he displayed a big personality and instantly became one of the most likable cheftestants to date. Gilbert, whose career spans over two decades, has been featured on a number of cooking shows, competitions and segments on national television including winning Beat Bobby Flay, Midnight Feast and Cutthroat Kitchen, serving as a judge on Chopped Junior, and has been featured on CBS Saturday Morning, The Today Show, and HGTV. He and his recipes have been published in a multitude of national magazines and blogs including Food & Wine, Coastal Living, Garden & Gun, Men’s Journal, Playboy and in O Magazine. Kenny recently released his very first cookbook, Southern Cooking, Global Flavors, which he will be signing copies of at the event.

The Orange Bowl Committee has maintained a legacy of charitable contributions and community outreach through its Orange Bowl Cares program, and the Orange Bowl Food & Wine Celebration is a signature element of that thanks in part to presenting sponsor Florida Blue, and associate sponsors CBS4, Celebrity Cruises, Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, Deloitte, Dunkin’, Florida Power & Light Company, Four Roses Bourbon, Gold Coast Beverage Distributors, L.L.C., Funky Buddha, Hard Rock Stadium, Holy Cross Health, Modelo, Rabble, Seminole Hard Rock Hotel Hollywood, Sun Sentinel Media Group, TD Bank, America’s Most Convenient Bank, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Toyota and Visit Lauderdale.