Get a Taste for Adventure with Your Favorite Top Chefs

wildflavor chefs

Prepare your palate for a long weekend, April 20–23, 2017, with the cream-of-the-crop in culinary talent at The Resort at Paws Up. WildFlavor is an all-new foodie event that features four Top Chef stars as well as Paws Up Executive Chef Ben Jones. The Top Chefs heading to Montana and our luxury 37,000-acre ranch include Kristen Kish (winner, Season 10), Sam Talbot (finalist, Season 2), Casey Thompson (finalist, Season 3) and Brooke Williamson (runner-up, Season 10).

The Resort at Paws Up

Whet your appetite as you watch these culinary artists fork it out during a live cook-off challenge, and enjoy a trio of expertly crafted meals during the delicious four-day event. And don’t forget to toast to the Top Chefs with fine vino exquisitely paired by Master Sommelier Brian McClintic (featured in the documentary SOMM and its sequel). Along with plenty of ranch activities to burn off those extra calories, WildFlavor is the perfect blend of food and fun this spring.

Special note: Tune in before you come! Talbot, Thompson and Williamson all returned to Bravo to compete in Top Chef Season 14.

adventures at the resort at paws up

Tentative Schedule

Thursday, April 20, 2017

  • Welcome reception with wines selected by Master Sommelier Brian McClintic
  • Dinner at Pomp while you watch our chefs in action

Friday, April 21, 2017

  • Breakfast in Trough at your leisure
  • A three-hour horseback ride with Chef Kristen Kish and Chef Casey Thompson (lunch provided, limited availability)
  • Lunch in Trough at your leisure for those not on the horseback ride
  • A Top Chef dinner, with each course prepared by one of the Featured Chefs

Saturday, April 22, 2017

  • Breakfast in Trough at your leisure
  • Morning ATV ride with Chef Sam Talbot and Chef Brooke Williamson
  • Lunch in Trough at your leisure
  • Afternoon meet-and-greet reception with book signings in the Lewis & Clark Reception Barn
  • Celebrity chef cook-off in the Lewis & Clark Reception Barn followed by dinner in Pomp

Sunday, April 23, 2017

  • Breakfast in Trough at your leisure

ATV ride at Paws Up

Come Cook with Brooke Williamson at The Resort at Paws Up

Chef Brooke Williamson

Say hello to Chef Brooke Williamson, a fearless and unstoppable Southern Californian who’s become a bit of a regular at The Resort at Paws Up. We love hosting her, because she brings energy and fresh local ingredients to everything she does.

You might know her from Top Chef. She’s currently reappearing to compete in Season 14: Charleston, South Carolina, airing right now on Bravo. In Season 10, Williamson was the runner-up and a favorite among the show’s fans.

When she’s not on TV, she’s busy running the four smash-hit restaurants she owns with her husband. The newest opened just this past October—a fast- casual Hawaiian concept named Da Kikokiko in Playa Vista, a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.

What does she do for fun? She comes to The Resort at Paws Up, of course. In 2017, she’ll be a featured chef at no fewer than three culinary events: WinterFest on January 19– 22, WildFlavor on April 20–23 and Bounty on the Blackfoot on August 19. So we asked her to tell us about her experiences here.

What’s the first thing you like to do when you arrive at Paws Up?
 I like to grab a drink at Tank and head straight to my cabin to chill on the porch. The sounds of wilderness that surround those cabins are the perfect way to decompress after a day of travel.

What do you look forward to most when you visit? 
Because of the fact that I get to experience the ranch at different times of year, the things I look forward to in terms of activities vary greatly. Between pristine snow and cattle drives, I could stay entertained forever.

But the one thing that I can always count on, no matter what time of year, is the staff. I do a lot of events, all over the country, but never do I travel to a place and feel so welcomed and at home as I do at Paws Up.

What’s a dish you’ve made just for Paws Up guests that was especially wonderful? 
Seafood salad, cucumber and tomato water, compressed melons. I made this dish for an event last summer, and although I would normally gravitate toward mentioning a dish that feels more “Montana,” I actually loved this dish not only because of the setting and weather that it was served in, but mostly because I got to use some of the best local watermelon I’ve ever tasted.

How does cooking in Montana differ from cooking in LA? Cooking in Montana makes you realize how important and special cooking “local” can be. I come from California, where we have beautiful seasons for produce, and an enormous variety of pretty much anything you want.

But Montana helps me realize how specific seasons can actually be based on climate and accessibility. From elk to buffalo to huckleberries and specific mushrooms, it’s especially fun to find new ways to highlight ingredients that I don’t come across every day in Los Angeles.