The Culinary Collective, a chef series presented by Motor City Seafood, is a unique dining experience by the team at Oak & Reel where we host and collaborate with celebrated chefs from around the country. For each series, we partner with local culinary schools to bring in aspiring chefs and provide them with the opportunity to learn skills and invaluable insight from the industry’s best.

Each dinner experience will vary from one another, from the chef to the cuisine, all benefiting local non-profits that work tirelessly to help our community. It’s a dinner of a lifetime for many foodies, who will be able to experience a world-class meal without leaving Detroit.

THE DINING EXPERIENCE

The Culinary Collective dining experience is a 6-7 course tasting menu, accompanied by wine or non-alcoholic beverage pairing. Each of the 3 menus will showcase dishes from the visiting chef’s restaurants, transporting our guests into their culinary world.

2024 GUEST CHEFS

This year, the Culinary Collective welcomed the following incredible chefs to Oak & Reel’s kitchen, including:

Chef Hemant Mathur | Chef Erik Anderson | Chef Anita Lo

Chef Hemant Mathur holds the unique distinction of being the first Indian chef in the U.S. to be awarded a Michelin star and retain it across two New York City restaurants - Devi and Tulsi.
Gaining much acclamation and experience, and backed by a zeal to introduce Indian food to a global market, Chef Mathur landed in New York City. Here he contributed to the success of some of the city’s top Indian restaurants like Tamarind, Amma, Chote Nawab, Chola, Malai Marke, and Dhaba.
Today, Hemant Mathur is a chef-entrepreneur who operates multiple restaurants in New York. His New York City restaurants include Saar Indian Bistro, Veeray da Dhaba, and his newest venture Veerays’ opening soon; as well as Athithi in Wilton and Marigold in Eastchester.
His long-standing presence in the global fine dining industry has helped change the way Indian food and hospitality has been perceived in the US and he strives to expand people’s notion of the breadth of Indian cuisine.

Erik Anderson’s culinary career blends his diverse experience and artistic spirit. Born and raised in Chicago, Anderson spent much of his childhood at his parents’ restaurant where he discovered his passion for experimenting with various ingredients and culinary techniques.
Anderson embarked on his career in the hospitality industry in 2006 at Chef Thomas Keller’s 3 Michelin-starred restaurant The French Laundry in Yountville, California. Anderson then moved to Minneapolis for a sous chef position at Auriga under Doug Flicker, the chef he now considers his mentor. After three years working with Flicker, Anderson departed for a position at Hotel Ivy’s Porter & Frye, where he served as part of the restaurant’s opening team ultimately assuming the role of chef de cuisine.
In 2009, Anderson brought his creativity to Tim McKee’s Sea Change Restaurant & Bar, where he worked as chef de cuisine building menus focused on sustainable seafood and seasonal ingredients. Anderson’s cooking at Sea Change garnered nationwide attention and marked a pinnacle in his career, being named a James Beard Foundation Award nominee and a Food & Wine Magazine “People’s Best New Chef Midwest” finalist.
After staging at the prestigious Noma restaurant in Copenhagen, Anderson relocated to Nashville to helm the kitchen at The Catbird Seat. At The Catbird Seat, now considered one of the Countries most ground-breaking restaurants, he delivered an ever-changing, fourteen-course tasting menu in an interactive format. In 2012, Anderson was named one of Food & Wine’s “Best New Chefs..” The following year, the magazine bestowed him with the additional honor of being named “Best New Chef All Star”, where a talent from each class of past 25 years was highlighted. The Catbird Seat also received accolades including Bon Appétit’s “Best New Restaurants in America” and one of GQ Magazine’s “Top Ten Best New Restaurants in America.” As well as being featured in the NY Times and Mentions in Time Magazine. Anderson has also appeared on Bizarre Food with Andrew Zimmern, PBS Series The Mind of a Chef, and Vice’s Munchies.
Erik earned 2 Michelin stars as the Executive Chef of Coi in San Francisco as well as being the opening chef of Truss at the Four Seasons in Napa Valley.
Erik is currently working as the Executive Chef for Barndiva a one Michelin star restaurant in Healdsburg, California as well as working on opening an as of yet to be named fine dining restaurant in Calistoga, CA.

Anita Lo is a French trained chef and cookbook author (Cooking Without Borders and SoLo, a Modern Cookbook for a Party of One which won Eater’s Cookbook of the Year and was nominated for an IACP award) based in New York City. She is best known for her work at Annisa, a contemporary American fine dining restaurant in the West Village which she owned and operated for 17 years and which received a three star rating from the New York Times and a Michelin star among other accolades. She was the first female chef to collaborate for a state dinner at the white house under the Obama Administration. She has appeared on numerous television shows and films including Top Chef Masters, Iron Chef America and The Heat. She is currently working with the Tour De Forks, hosting culinary tours around the planet. She was recently knighted to the Order of Agricultural Merit from the French government.

COMMUNITY IMPACT

At Oak & Reel, we believe in giving back to the community that supports us. That’s why a percentage of every ticket sold for the Culinary Collective will go towards our newly founded Scholarship Fund with Downtown Boxing Gym. The scholarship will help nurture the next generation of culinary artists and hospitality professionals from within our community.