Tower Bridge Dinner chefs will lead exclusive event that draws national attention
Visit Sacramento, the region’s tourism bureau, announced Wednesday that four chefs from an eclectic mix of local restaurants will lead the Tower Bridge dinner, an annual fundraiser for a separate festival that draws tens of thousands of people to Sacramento.
The exclusive event — during which about 200 chefs and waitstaff take over Tower Bridge to serve a group of just 832 diners, usually in early September — has been a boost for the region’s image, said Mike Testa, president and CEO of Visit Sacramento.
“Throughout the years, we’ve had the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle, GQ Magazine — all these outlets have sat on that bridge during that dinner, and so many of those writers have written national feature stories about Sacramento because of the dinner,” Testa said.
The dinner also funds scholarships for children of farmworkers, and the free Farm-to-Fork Festival, which draws more than 100,000 people, Testa said. That’s up from 20,000 when it launched, and it has grown from a one-day event to a two-day event.
The chefs leading the Tower Bridge dinner this year are:
▪ Devin Dedier, of Vacanza Romana
▪ Jeana Marie, of Omakase Por Favor
▪ N’Gina Guyton, of Jim Denny’s
▪ Bucky Bray, of Nixtaco Folsom
The chefs said Wednesday that while in the past Tower Bridge Dinner chefs have often each taken responsibility for a single course, they gathered together to plan a full menu together.
“Nobody has a dish,” Marie said.
“We have a menu — together,” Guyton said.
Dedier said the menu will be heavily influenced by Terra Madre, the Italian food festival that will make its Sacramento debut in September, merging with the Farm-to-Fork Festival. The Tower Bridge Dinner will serve as somewhat of an “opening ceremony” for the combined festival, Dedier said.
Guyton said she was motivated to take part in the dinner because she wanted to spotlight ingredients that are produced in the region, and the people who provide them.
“I really do want the producers, the farmers, to have more of a highlight than maybe they have had in the past,” Guyton said.
Visit Sacramento tries to rotate the chefs, to expose diners to new foods, Testa said. Many of the chefs have worked at the event over the years, often starting out working in the kitchen on tasks like plating.
“Anybody that you see in the lead chef position has worked their way up,” Testa said. “Nobody comes in and just gets the spot as one of the lead chefs… We’ve found that it’s a great opportunity for some of the next generation coming up to have a spotlight shine on them, to connect with some of the mentors in the market.”
This story was originally published May 28, 2025 at 12:30 PM.
