Overview Culinary Masters is Robb Report's annual chef weekend for its private club, RR1, and it is built small: the 2026 edition at the Four Seasons New Orleans was planned around 60 RR1 members, widening to about 110 guests on the Friday night, with Top Chef winner Buddha Lo, Dakar NOLA's Serigne Mbaye and Pascual's Matt Conroy and Isabel Coss cooking. The program runs three days, from a gala dinner through a cooking class, a mixology class and private dinners across the city to an afterparty. Culinary editor Jeremy Repanich hosted in 2026; the 2025 edition was in Nashville. Robb Report has published since 1976, runs 21 print editions worldwide and stages more than 30 events a year. On site In 2026 guests checked in at the hotel, a tower at the foot of Canal Street on the Mississippi with an observation deck on the 34th floor, and opened with an invitation-only spirits tasting and a reception. Dinner that night was at Chemin à la Mer, with each course from a different chef and live music, and the night ended with Cut and Light in the Garden. Friday started with coffee and pastries and a hands-on class with Buddha Lo that turned into brunch, his English breakfast reworked for New Orleans. After free time in the French Quarter and a mixology class, guests picked their dinner from an editors' list - Acamaya, Brennan's or Cane and Table - before the afterparty at Miss River. A farewell brunch closed Saturday. Audience The room is RR1 members, from Robb Report's private club, who stay at the hotel for the weekend and move through the program as one small group, so the same guests sit at the gala, the class, the tasting and the afterparty. Talent and Influencers The 2026 roster was Buddha Lo, whom Robb Report bills as the first back-to-back Top Chef winner; Serigne Mbaye of the James Beard Award-winning Dakar NOLA; Matt Conroy and Isabel Coss of Pascual; pastry chef Tavel Bristol-Joseph; and Four Seasons chef Dario Montelvere. The Friday dinner kitchens were led by chefs such as Kris Padalino at Brennan's and Alfredo Nogueira at Cane and Table. Brand presence In 2026 Vanguard's name ran through the Friday: the mixology class, the choose-your-restaurant dinner and the afterparty at Miss River were each billed as brought to you by Vanguard. Partners can also take a branded station where guests taste or take home a product, a sponsored breakfast cart, a hosted dinner with a local restaurant, private tastings or a sponsored outing into the city. They appear in the invitations to RR1 members and VIP guests, on the event website, in the RR1 newsletter recaps and in Robb Report's editorial and social coverage.