by TM Petaccia

Chef Aarón Sánchez will take part in both the Saturday and Sunday StrEATs events. Photo courtesy

Award-winning chef, TV personality, author, and philanthropist Aarón Sánchez will be this year’s guest chef at the 2024 StrEATS Festival, April 13 and 14. Sánchez’ career spans over two decades starring on hit shows such as Food Network’s Chopped and the Emmy-nominated series Taco Trip, to currently being a judge on FOX’s culinary competition series MasterChef and MasterChef Junior as well as being the host and executive producer of El Toque de Aarón on Discovery Familia and Hogar de HGTV.

Unlike the previous StrEATs guest chefs, Sánchez will make an appearances both days over the StrEATs weekend. On Saturday, April 13, he will be making an exclusive book-signing appearance during the VIP early-entry hour of the StrEATs Tasting Tour.  VIP ticket holders will receive a copy of his book Where I Come From: Life Lessons from a Latino Chef and will have the opportunity to get their copy signed. The following day, he will be doing a special cooking demonstration as well as emceeing the StrEATs Neighborhood Cook-off finale at Gateway Village.

“We love showing off our city to talented chefs, and we can’t wait to bring chef Aarón to Charlotte,” says Kristen Wile, StrEATs co-host and editor of Unpretentious Palate. “We know once he experiences our city, he’ll be as impressed with Charlotte’s culinary professionals as we are. We believe bringing top-level talent to Charlotte is important to getting our city the attention it deserves.”

In addition to being the chef/owner of several restaurants throughout the U.S. (Johnny Sánchez, Showbird and Adobo Cantina), Sánchez is a partner in the world-renowned tattoo shop and museum, Daredevil Tattoo in NYC. He is also the founder of the Aarón Sánchez Impact Fund, a nonprofit program whose mission is to uplift the lives of Latino youth through food. In 2005, he won the James Beard Award as Rising Star Chef of the Year. He lives in New Orleans with his two dogs, Moose and Balto.

This will be the third year the StrEATs Festival has brought national celebrity chefs to the Queen City. In its inaugural year, the festival featured Amanda Freitag and last year it featured Alex Guarnaschelli.

Part of Charlotte SHOUT, Charlotte StrEATS is a joint event of Unpretentious Palate and Carben Events + Marketing. Complete information on the two-day event can be found at cltstreatsfestival.com.