Dinner and a Show                                       

Guests dine with celebrity chefs at a local restaurant-cum-cooking school.

We’ve hosted chefs like Jean-Marie Lacroix [of Lacroix at The Rittenhouse, pictured], Jose Garces of Alma de Cuba, and cookbook author Ethel Hofman,” says Angela Martinez, co-owner of Celebrity Kitchens in Wilmington, Delaware, where guests cook and dine with expert chefs from the region’s top restaurants.

Of course it’s hard not to name-drop when the chefs’ bios read like the Who’s Who of the culinary world, and yet Celebrity Kitchens feels more like grandma’s house than any gourmet restaurant. The décor is dressed-down, with a basic cooking island and wooden tables and chairs accommodating no more than 24 guests for demonstration dinners and 12 guests for hands-on dinners.

In fact, “you won’t find any cooking equipment here that you wouldn’t find in a home kitchen,” adds Martinez, who worked with her partner Cindy Weiner as family court prosecutors before turning their passion for entertaining into a “recreational cooking school.”

Now in its third year, Celebrity Kitchens hosts a different guest chef six evenings a week as well as Sunday brunch. Whether watching the chef prepare the meal or rolling up their sleeves and assisting, guests not only learn great cooking tips—like how to cook authentic Asian Fusion, how to prepare the traditional Feast of the Seven Fishes, or how to make edible gifts that won’t end up in the garbage disposal—but they also get to indulge in a fixed-price four-course gourmet meal, complete with complimentary wine from the experts at Moore Brothers Wine Company.

Dinner programs last about two-and-a-half hours, but the dinner conversation doesn’t end there. “One thing that surprises people is how warm, friendly and interactive it is among diners,” says Martinez. “Guests grow into questions and continue conversations about all kinds of cooking. It’s an extended event.”

Just like grandma’s—but here, you get to take home the recipes.

For reservations, call 302/427-2665 or visit celebritykitchensinc.com.

—Stacy Tillilie