Top Local Chef 2016: What To Know Before You Go

GULFPORT, FL – Looking to have a taste of the top restaurants all in one place? Look no further than the Top Local Chef and Tampa Bay Marketplace 2016 competition.

The event features the area’s best restaurateurs and private chefs competing to see who will be this year’s Top Local Chef. The event will be emceed by Janet Keeler, visiting assistant professor and coordinator of food writing and photography graduate certificates at USF St. Petersburg.

Here’s what area residents need to know before you go:

Date, Time and Location

Top Local Chef and Tampa Bay Marketplace 2016 takes place Sunday, April 24 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Gulfport Casino Ballroom, 5500 Shore Blvd. The event is put on by LocalShops1, an advocate for Tampa Bay’s independent businesses.

Tickets

General admission tickets are $25, which includes samples from four of the competing chefs and a voting token to help select the People’s Choice award.

Competing Chefs

This year, the group of chefs competing in the 2016 Top Local Chef competition will have oranges as their featured ingredient. The chefs competing this year are:

• Chefs Shane Ibey and Cassandra Grawien, Tastes of Tampa Bay/Street Surfer Food Truck
• Chef Timothy Fling, Beach
• Chef Sean Ford, Tryst
• Chef Jill & Markia Johnson, Mangia Gourmet
• Chef Ramon Hernandez, Pipo’s To Go Catering & Pipo’s Cuban Café
• Chef John Riesebeck, Smokin’ J’s Real Texas BBQ
• Chef Olive Davis, Stella’s Restaurant
• Chef LeAnn Jackson, LeAnns Cheesecakes ’N More
• Chef Michelle Garner, OobAlaMode Pastries

Judges

The celebrity judges for the 2016 Top Local Chef competition are:

• Ross Clingman, sous chef at Ritz Carlton, Sarasota, and 2015 Top Local Chef winner
• Isabel Laesig, founder of Family Foodie and Sunday Supper Movement
• Robin King, co-owner of Three Birds Tavern and owner of Out of the Weeds
• Kanika Tomalin, deputy mayor, City of St. Petersburg
• Noah Pransky, journalist, WTSP 10 News

Tampa Bay Marketplace

The vendors participating in the Tampa Bay Marketplace are:

• Beach
• Cutco At Home Rep Michelle Linden
• Intensity Academy Gourmet Sauces
• Just Grillin
• Lola’s Handcrafted
• Out of the Weeds artisan dressings
• Pinellas Chocolate Company
• Red Hot Tiki Spicy Gourmet Market
• Takeout Button
• Wild Boy Sauce
• Wine Me?

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.toplocalchef.com.

Image via Shutterstock

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