A Culinary Spectacle: Celebrity Chefs Take the Stage at Kentucky Derby 152

Apr 20, 2026 Kentucky Derby

Where Culinary Excellence Meets the Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports

At the Kentucky Derby, tradition runs deep. The roses. The pageantry. The thunder of hooves beneath the Twin Spires.

But for those who know, Derby Week is just as much about what’s on the plate as what’s on the track.

For Kentucky Derby 152, Churchill Downs and Levy are elevating the culinary experience to new heights, welcoming a dynamic lineup of nationally celebrated chefs to create exclusive menus across premier dining rooms throughout Oaks and Derby Days .

From James Beard Award winners to Top Chef champions, these culinary tastemakers will bring bold flavors, cultural storytelling, and signature dishes to iconic spaces like the Turf Club, Spires Terrace, First Turn, Stakes Room, Finish Line Balcony, Jockey Club Suites, Club SI, and Woodford Reserve Paddock Plaza .

This is not simply dining.
It is immersion.
It is indulgence.
It is the Derby experience—reimagined.

Lorena Garcia

Oaks Day Location: Turf Club | Derby Day Location: Spires Terrace

Menu items: Arepitas & Espinales

Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Lorena is a celebrated chef, entrepreneur, and media personality known for bringing the vibrant flavors of Latin cuisine to a global stage. She is the creator of CHICA, with locations in Las Vegas, Miami, and Aspen, where she became the first and only female chef honored on The Venetian’s prestigious “Wall of Culinary Titans” alongside legends like Thomas Keller and Emeril Lagasse. Her reach extends to major airports, including Dallas–Fort Worth and Atlanta, through Lorena Garcia Tapas y Cocina, and to home kitchens with her signature cookware line and a frozen food line.

A familiar face on Bravo’s Top Chef Masters and Food Network’s Tournament of Champions, Lorena has also published two best-selling cookbooks and contributed to countless publications. Beyond her culinary empire, she founded the Big Chef, Little Chef program to promote healthy eating among families and serves as an ambassador for No Kid Hungry, reflecting her deep commitment to giving back.

Tristen Epps

Oaks Day Location: Not On Site | Derby Day Location: Ford First Turn Club

Menu items: Trinidadian Brown Stew Chicken, Roasted Garlic and Truffle Mangú, Jerk Lamb Shoulder, Coconut Coo-Coo

Chef Tristen Epps-Long, winner of Top Chef Season 22 in 2025, is redefining modern Afro-Caribbean cuisine through bold flavors, cultural storytelling, and global influence. Born of Trinidadian roots, Tristen traces his passion for cooking back to childhood, when he traveled the world with his active military mother. Living in Guam, Japan, and the Philippines shaped his eclectic palate and sparked a lifelong curiosity for flavor and technique.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in Culinary Arts and Food & Beverage Industry Management from Johnson Wales University in Charlotte, NC, followed by a rigorous three-year apprenticeship at The Greenbrier under Certified Master Chef Richard Rosendale. After appearing on ABC’s The Taste in 2014, Tristen joined Marcus Samuelsson’s Red Rooster Harlem, beginning a creative partnership that would span multiple cities and countries.

Dedicated to bringing recognition to Black foodways and elevating it within fine-dining culture, Tristen aspires to be a trailblazer and role model for the next generation of chefs.

Now based in Houston, Tristen is building Epps & Flows Culinary, his hospitality group focused on concept development, cultural storytelling, and culinary collaboration. His next concept is Buboy, a contemporary Afro-Caribbean tasting menu restaurant rooted in heritage, memory, and expressive technique. Through Buboy, Tristen aims to honor the depth and diversity of the African diaspora while pushing the boundaries of modern fine dining.

Akhtar Nawab

Oaks Day Location: Spires Terrace | Derby Day Location: Turf Club

Menu Item: Smoked Duck Crepes

Akhtar Nawab is chef and owner of Alta Calidad and Wayward Fare in New York, and Founder/CEO of Hospitality HQ. With nearly 25 years of experience in the kitchen, the Kentucky-born chef of Indian heritage has embraced Mexican cuisine, connecting the layered, complex cooking and ingredients of Mexico with the Indian food he grew up eating.

Nawab’s ‘less-is-more’ style of cooking has earned him critical praise throughout the years, beginning with his experience in the kitchen at acclaimed restaurants like Gramercy Tavern, Craftbar and Craft, the latter of which received three stars from The New York Times and won the James Beard Foundation’s “Best New Restaurant” Award during Nawab’s tenure. Nawab moved on to serve as the executive chef of East Village gastropub The E.U., for which he received StarChef’s “Rising Star Chef” award before striking out on his own as a partner at Elettaria. Moving towards Mexican cuisine, Nawab took the helm at popular NYC hotspot La EsquinaNawab has been featured in various publications, including Food & Wine, Bon Appetit and Eater, and has appeared on Food Network’s “Iron Chef America.” He was included in acclaimed cookbook Coco: 10 World-Leading Masters Choose 100 Contemporary Chefs (Phaidon, 2009) and released his first cookbook Good For You, all about his unique take on healthy food, in 2020.

Damaris Phillips

Oaks Day Location: Jockey Club Suites | Derby Day Location: Club SI

Menu Items: Mezcal Crab Salad & Southern Banana Pudding

Damaris Phillips’s journey in the culinary world is anything but conventional. Known for her unique approach to Southern comfort food, she first captured the public’s attention as the winner of Food Network Star in 2013. From there, Damaris’s career took off, and today, she’s not just a chef but a dynamic personality who has hosted six different Food Network shows, including her current role on Outrageous Pumpkins. As a regular cast member on shows like Summer Baking Championship, Beat Bobby Flay, and Guy’s Grocery Games, Damaris has become a beloved figure, known for her warm, accessible energy and her ability to connect with audiences like they’re part of her extended family.

Damaris’s passion extends beyond food and business; it’s about living fully. As co-host of the podcast That’s Fun with Nikki Dinki, Damaris explores how to embrace joy, adventure, and personal growth, sharing her journey with listeners who appreciate her honesty and enthusiasm for life.

Her second cookbook, New Fashioned, is on the way, continuing her exploration of Southern cuisine with a modern twist—offering new takes on the comfort food she’s always loved, with a focus on fresh ingredients and accessible flavors for today’s home cooks.

From the kitchen to the digital space, Damaris Phillips’s career reflects her love for great food, creativity, and living life to the fullest. Whether she’s cooking, creating content, or inspiring others to embrace adventure, Damaris is always bringing her best to the table.

Leah Cohen

Oaks Day Location: Stakes Room | Derby Day Location: Finish Line Balcony

Menu Item: Lechon

Leah Cohen is a renowned chef and owner of Pig & Khao in the Upper West side. She gained a national following after appearing on TV, making her breakthrough on Bravo’s hit show “Top Chef” and has since appeared on various Food Network shows including “Beat Bobby Flay”, “Guy’s Grocery Games” and “Tournament of Champions”

Early in her career, Cohen honed her skills in Michelin-starred kitchens, working

alongside some of the world best chefs. Her Filipino heritage and regular visits to

the region heavily influence her cooking style, which combines authentic Southeast Asian flavors with classical Western techniques.

Beyond her success on Food Network, Cohen also appears as a culinary expert on

popular morning shows like “The TODAY Show” and “Good Morning America” She has also showcased her talents on seasons 1 and 2 of PBS “Great American Chef”

Fabio Viviani

Oaks Day Location: Finish Line Balcony | Derby Day Location: Stakes Room

Menu Items: Hand-Made Gnocchi, Butter Brioche Lobster Crostino

Fabio Viviani has harbored a passion for food since his childhood in Florence, Italy. Between training in Italian and Mediterranean cuisines at top hospitality schools, working with culinary luminaries Alessandro Panzani and Saverio Carmagnini, Fabio also owned and successfully executed multiple concepts in Florence. By the time he was 27, he operated two nightclubs and five restaurants. In 2005, Fabio moved to California, where he opened his first US-based restaurants -- Café Firenze, Firenze Osteria, Bar Firenze, and Mercato by Fabio Viviani -- all in the Los Angeles area.

Best known for his participation in Bravo’s Top Chef seasons 5 and 8 -- earning the “Fan Favorite” title -- his on-screen appearances and off-screen successes have propelled him to become one of the most influential culinary and hospitality names in the country.

Fabio is a recurring guest on national television shows such as Good Morning America, The Rachael Ray Show, and numerous Food Network Shows, such as Cutthroat Kitchen: All-Star Tournament, which he won.

Off-screen, Fabio is a regular headliner at global food events, and he has authored four successful cookbooks: Café Firenze Cookbook, New York Times Best-Seller Fabio’s Italian Kitchen, Fabio’s American Home Kitchen, and most recently Fabio’s 30-Minute Italian.

Fabio's online presence draws millions of viewers yearly with his own cooking show, Fabio's Kitchen, now in Season 5.

Rodney Scott

Oaks & Derby Day Location: Woodford Reserve Paddock Plaza

Menu Items: Pulled Pork & Collard Greens, Chicken Wings with White Sauce & Cornbread

Scott was born on November 1, 1971 in Philadelphia to Roosevelt and Ella Scott. He is an only child. In 1972 the family relocated to the Pee Dee area of South Carolina, where the family ran several businesses including a gas station, a variety store, a farm, and a barbecue restaurant. At around eleven, Scott first started barbecuing at his parents' business, Scott's Variety Store and Bar-B-Q in Hemingway, South Carolina, where at first the family would smoke a whole hog each week, expanding as demand increased until they were smoking seven or eight hogs a day. At 17 he was working for the family business full time.

In 2009 the family business was profiled by Southern food historian John T. Edge. In 2011, Scott took over the family barbecuing business. A sometime customer, Nick Pihakis, told him he was undercharging for his food. In 2016, he and his father quarreled and he left the family business to partner with Pihakis.

Scott opened Rodney Scott's BBQ in Charlestonin 2017 and in Birminghamin 2019. As of March, 2021, a third location was set to open in Atlanta. A fourth location opened in December 2021 in Alabama.

In 2018 Scott was named Best Chef: Southeast by the James Beard Foundation, only the second pitmaster to win a James Beard chef award. He was featured on Chef's Table: BBQ in 2020. The Washington Post called him a barbecue celebrity. In 2020 he was nominated to the Barbecue Hall of Fame. Texas Monthly called him 'a whole hog legend'. Daniel Vaughn of Texas Monthly wrote that Scott was 'an undeniable master of the pit'.

Stephanie Izard

Oaks Day Location: Club SI | Derby Day Location: Jockey Club Suites

Menu Items: Crispy Jambalaya Rice & Spicy Seafood Salad

Stephanie Izard, recipient of James Beard Best Chef: Great Lakes and Food & Wine Best New Chef, is the Executive Chef and Owner of Girl & the Goat, Little Goat, Duck Duck Goat, Cabra, and Lucky Goat in Chicagoland, along with Girl & the Goat and Valley Goat in California. Izard also won the coveted title of Iron Chef in 2017 and was the 4th winner of Bravo’s Top Chef. Izard jumped back into television in 2023 with the release of The Curious Chef, a Tastemade television series where she visits home cooks to get a taste of their time-honored recipes and traditions, alongside numerous appearances, as both a competitor and a judge, on shows including Tournament of Champions, Hell’s Kitchen, Superchef Grudge Match, Guy’s Grocery Games, Chopped, and more.

A James Beard Best New Restaurant nominee, Girl & the Goat has been praised by high-profile publications such as Saveur, New York Times, and Food & Wine. Little Goat Diner, Stephanie’s highly successful follow-up to Girl & the Goat, features classic, Americana cuisine in a diner setting. In March 2016, Stephanie opened her third restaurant, a Chinese-inspired concept called Duck Duck Goat and in 2019, Stephanie’s Peruvian-inspired eatery, Cabra, opened on the rooftop of The Hoxton, Chicago. Then Izard expanded to the West Coast with Girl & the Goat in downtown Los Angeles and, more recently, Valley Goat in Silicon Valley. The latest addition to the Goat family is Lucky Goat, located within Chicagoland’s Hollywood Casino. Izard’s first book, “Girl in the Kitchen,” was released in 2011 and her second book “Gather & Graze” was released in April 2018.

Food Village

Oaks & Derby Day Location: Oaks Room- Jockey Club Tower

Menu Items: Nuchas Empanadas, Snell Concessions, Southern Comfort, Other Delectable Bites