Chris Huerta, Madison’s Restaurant
If last month’s preview in this magazine of the Chef’s Circle dinner at Old Edwards read like a roll call of the Plateau’s culinary heavyweights, this next look answers the more interesting question: what, exactly, will they be cooking – and how will it all come together on the plate.
On Sunday, May 17, Chef’s Circle unfolds across The Farm at Old Edwards in a format that’s less seated dinner, more roaming feast. The structure invites a kind of grazing curiosity – guests moving from station to station, building a meal that reflects both appetite and instinct. It’s the sort of evening where you might start with something refined, double back for something smoky, and end up lingering longer than planned.
Oksana Shchelgachova, Edelweiss Highlands
The full roster is now confirmed: Blue Hound Barbecue and Blue Bike Cafe, Edelweiss Highlands, Four65 Woodfire Bistro + Bar, Highlands Smokehouse, Lakeside Restaurant, Madison’s Restaurant, Paoletti’s, and The Stubborn Bull and The Stubborn Buddha. Ten kitchens, one evening, one shared stage – and a menu that reads like a snapshot of Highlands at its best: smoke, spice, and a clear sense of place.
Kyle Bryner, Blue Hound Barbecue
At Madison’s Restaurant, Executive Chef Chris Huerta is anchoring the evening with herb ash–roasted Painted Hills New York strip, paired with truffled pommes Macaire, roasted morels, and truffle jus – a quietly luxurious plate rooted in the region but never confined by it.
A few steps away, Four65 Woodfire Bistro + Bar is firing a wood-fired pizza station, turning out margheritas alongside a richer variation layered with smoked gouda, pancetta, and a creamy buttermilk drizzle – food meant to be eaten standing, glass in hand, mid-conversation.
Kevin Turner, Lakeside Restaurant
From The Stubborn Buddha comes one of the evening’s most layered dishes: Kashmiri chicken curry, built on masala-spiced chicken in a coconut-ginger curry with garlic, black mustard seeds, neem leaf, and a touch of cream, finished with roasted cashews, golden raisins, banana, and cilantro – deep, aromatic, and quietly complex. The Stubborn Bull, by contrast, keeps things spare and precise: jamón Serrano Ibérico paired with melon, drizzled with local honey – a clean, balanced bite that cuts through the richness of the evening.
Massimiliano Proietti, Ristorante Paoletti
Elsewhere, the range continues to widen. Lakeside Restaurant leans into the season with pan-seared scallops set over sweet corn purée and finished with crisp pancetta – clean, balanced, and quietly indulgent.
Paoletti’s brings its signature sense of comfort and precision with a Wagyu beef and ricotta meatball, served over aged Asiago polenta with San Marzano tomato sauce, a dish that lands squarely in that space between rustic and refined.
Vijay Shastri,The Stubborn Bull, The Stubborn Buddha
And then, a turn toward something smaller, more delicate. Edelweiss Highlands offers a trio of petite dessert bouchées—three-bite compositions presented in dark chocolate cups, each one gluten-free and precisely composed. Flavors move from deep and velvety (espresso-infused dark chocolate mousse with Baileys crémeux) to warm and rounded (blonde chocolate with caramel nougat) to bright and lifted (strawberry mascarpone with white chocolate and fresh compote). It’s a measured, elegant finish – dessert scaled to the rhythm of the evening.
The VIP hour, beginning at 5:00 P.M. in The Orchard House, adds another layer altogether. A seafood display of oysters, crab claws, and chilled shrimp sets the tone, alongside passed bites that preview the chefs’ range: smoked trout with caviar, lamb with hummus and sumac, wild mushroom tartlets with local goat cheese.
John Johnson, Four65 Woodfire Bistro + Bar
Fifty percent of VIP ticket proceeds benefit The Giving Kitchen, supporting food service workers in crisis – a detail that fits an evening built on the idea that food and community are inseparable.
By the time the full dinner opens at six, the effect is cumulative rather than linear – a series of impressions rather than courses, each reinforcing what makes Highlands worth the drive.
Ryno Grobler, Highlands Smokehouse
Chef’s Circle takes place Sunday, May 17, from 6:00 to 10:00 P.M. at The Farm at Old Edwards. Tickets are $198, with VIP access at $288. VIP tickets have already sold out, but general admission remains available. Both options include food, beverages, shuttle service, and gratuity. Secure your tickets at OldEdwardsHospitality.com/ChefDinners.
Much more than an evening to sit through, it’s a meal to move through – one you build, bite by bite, as the night unfolds.
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