Top Chef's Kenny Gilbert Moves Into PGA National

By John Linn Mon., Jul. 12 2010 at 10:58 AM

Categories: Restaurant News

If you've been keeping up with Top Chef this season, you've seen that one of the front runners to win the whole season is chef Kenny Gilbert. Each week, Kenny's deep, complex food seems to land him in the running for a Quickfire or Elimination win. And even in those group challenges where Kenny somehow wound up near the bottom, he's somehow managed to claw himself back out and keep impressing the judges and viewers.

Well, now Kenny's coming to Florida -- permanently. Gilbert will take over as executive chef at the lux PGA National Resort & Spa, home of the Honda Classic and one of South Florida's most prestigious golf courses.

Gilbert will retool the resort's premier restaurant, Ironwood Grille, as a casual fine dining restaurant and take command over the resort's half-dozen other eateries. No stranger to fancy resort dining, Gilbert -- a graduate of the Pennsylvania Culinary Institute -- has previously cooked at BallenIsles Country Club and the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club and Spa in Jupiter. Most recently, the 36-year-old chef has served as executive chef at the Capella Telluride resort in Telluride, Colorado.

All this means that South Florida will have to start rooting for Gilbert on Top Chef, where his toughest competition appears to be cocky New York toque Angelo Sosa.

We'll have more on Gilbert soon in Clean Plate Charlie.