RELISH 2026 Brings Zakarian, Conant and Yard to Newport Beach October 2 to 4

Four venues, three days, and a Saturday that starts with a runway show and ends with three chefs cooking one menu.

RELISH returns to Orange County the first weekend of October, and the 2026 roster reads like a Los Angeles guest list. The food, wine and spirits weekend runs Friday, October 2 through Sunday, October 4, 2026, across VEA Newport Beach, The Park Club in Costa Mesa and AnQi at Bloomingdale's South Coast Plaza, with Geoffrey Zakarian, Scott Conant, Sherry Yard, Kat Turner, Katie Chin, cheesemaster Afrim Pristine and co-founder Jamie Gwen on the schedule.

Gwen, a certified sommelier, seven time cookbook author and nationally syndicated radio host, co-founded RELISH with celebrity event planner Nicole Hirsty of Cobalt Events. The two are longtime friends who built the weekend around chef access rather than crowd size. In remarks published by the Newport Beach Independent, Gwen called the 2026 weekend more luxurious and delicious than ever.

The LA Names on the 2026 Roster

Kat Turner is the executive chef and partner behind Highly Likely, which opened its Studio City location on Ventura Blvd this summer. She is a two-time Chopped champion and competed on season 22 of Top Chef. Sherry Yard spent years as executive pastry chef at Spago Beverly Hills before winning her James Beard Award. Katie Chin, a cookbook author and television personality, was appointed by Mayor Karen Bass to the Los Angeles Board of City Tourism Commissioners.

The names from further afield carry the marquee. Zakarian is an Iron Chef, a longtime Chopped judge and a Le Cirque alum. Conant has opened a run of celebrated Italian restaurants and took a James Beard Best New Restaurant nod in 2002. Pristine, based in Toronto, is the youngest maitre fromager working today and runs Cheese Boutique, his family's nearly fifty year old shop.

The Full Weekend Schedule

Friday, October 2

• 5 to 8 p.m., Opening Cocktail Party and Grand Tasting on the Sunset Lawn at VEA Newport Beach. Bespoke menu, handcrafted cocktails, premium wine pours and interactive activations, with Zakarian, Conant, Yard, Turner, Pristine, Katie Chin, sommelier Rebecca Rose Phillips and Gwen all on the floor. $350 plus fees, 21 and over.

• 8 p.m., RELISH After Hours at VEA. A private late lounge with live music, premium spirits and artisanal cocktails, caviar bumps and savory bites, plus one-on-one time with the chef talent. This ticket includes admission to the opening party, and quantities are limited.

Saturday, October 3

• 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Fashion + Food at AnQi at Bloomingdale's South Coast Plaza. A multi-course luncheon from Zakarian and Conant built partly on Conant's Martone Street tomato sauces, with a specialty cocktail created by Zakarian, a runway fashion show and pop-up activations. Tickets not yet on sale.

• 2:30 to 3:30 p.m., The Art of Cheese and Wine at The Park Club. Pristine walks a curated selection of artisanal cheeses through terroir, aging, milk type and production, each paired to wine. $200 plus fees.

• 3 p.m., Master the Art of the Perfect Cut at The Park Club. A hands-on knife skills masterclass with the team from WOLFE Cutlery covering handling, sharpening basics and classic cuts. Tickets not yet on sale, and note it overlaps the tail of the cheese class.

• 5:30 to 10 p.m., RELISH Culinary Icons Dinner at The Park Club. Zakarian, Conant and Yard cooking one multi-course menu with wine pairings, opened by a Sip and Savor cocktail hour hosted by Pristine. $750 per person plus fees, or $1,400 for a pair.

Sunday, October 4

• 10 a.m. to noon, RELISH Sunday Brunch at VEA. Live stations and handcrafted plates, with signature sweets from Yard, global plates from Turner and cheese from Pristine. $250 plus fees.

• 12:30 to 2:30 p.m., RELISH in Wellness outdoors at VEA. Movement, mindfulness, nutrition and beauty sessions with restorative treatments and health-minded food. Tickets and pricing.

The VIP Weekend Package

The VIP Weekend Experience runs $3,000 plus fees, 21 and over, and bundles VIP check-in and a gift bag at the opening party, an exclusive wine tasting, food and spirits masterclasses with Pristine, private meet and greets with the featured chefs, the Saturday Culinary Icons dinner, access to the After Hours Luxe Lounge with complimentary bites and beverages, Sunday brunch, the wellness session with its own gift bag, and reserved premium seating throughout. Buying the dinner, opening party and brunch separately comes to about $1,350, so the VIP premium buys access, seating and the masterclasses rather than a discount.

What It Costs

All tickets are sold through ThunderTix, and listed prices exclude fees, which run about 3.5 percent.

• VIP Weekend Experience: $3,000

• Culinary Icons Dinner: $750 single, $1,400 per pair

• Opening Night Cocktail Party: $350

• Sunday Brunch: $250

• The Art of Cheese and Wine: $200

• After Hours: includes opening party admission, limited quantity

• Fashion + Food at AnQi and the WOLFE knife class: not yet on sale

What We Have Our Eyes On

• The Saturday Culinary Icons Dinner. Three chefs of that caliber cooking one menu in one room is the hardest thing to replicate anywhere else on the fall calendar.

• Fashion + Food at AnQi. A chef luncheon staged around a runway show inside a department store is a genuinely odd format, and Conant's tomato sauces and a Zakarian cocktail make it more than a novelty.

• The Art of Cheese and Wine. An hour with the youngest maitre fromager in the business, at a price well under the dinner.

There is a charitable thread here too. Orange Coast magazine reported that a previous RELISH weekend raised $7,500 for the James Beard Foundation.

If You Go

RELISH 2026 runs Friday, October 2 through Sunday, October 4, 2026, across three venues within about ten minutes of each other by car.

• VEA Newport Beach, A Marriott Resort and Spa, 900 Newport Center Drive, Newport Beach, CA 92660, (949) 640-4000. Hosts the Friday opening party, RELISH After Hours, Sunday brunch and the wellness session. Valet and self parking on site, adjacent to Fashion Island.

• The Park Club, 650 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, CA 92626, (949) 868-6511. Hosts the Saturday cheese masterclass and the Culinary Icons Dinner. Sits in the Segerstrom arts complex near the Orange County Museum of Art.

• AnQi at Bloomingdale's, South Coast Plaza, 3333 Bristol Street, Costa Mesa, CA 92626, (714) 557-5679. Hosts the Saturday Fashion + Food luncheon. Mall parking is free.

RELISH guests are offered special room rates at VEA Resort and Spa. Anyone planning to catch the Friday party and the Saturday dinner without driving the 405 twice will want that room block. From central Los Angeles, budget 60 to 90 minutes on the 405 on a Friday afternoon. OCTA bus service reaches both Fashion Island and South Coast Plaza, with current routes and timetables posted at octa.net.

Staying closer to home this fall? Malibu Food & Wine lands September 18 to 20 at Saddlerock Ranch, and Manhattan Beach Food & Wine runs September 25 and 26 at westdrift Manhattan Beach. For more of what is coming up, browse food events in Los Angeles.