The 11th Annual Philly Chef Conference 2025-2026

The Philly Chef Conference is pleased to announce that we will be hosting monthly events for Winter 2026!

Discussion and book signing with Gabrielle Hamilton

Tuesday, April 14 • 5:30–7:30 p.m.

The Philly Chef Conference series is excited to welcome Gabrielle Hamilton, celebrated James Beard award-winning chef, acclaimed writer and former owner of the restaurant Prune, to discuss her new memoir Next of Kin. Hamilton will be joined in conversation by Philadelphia’s renowned James Beard-winning restaurateur Ellen Yin. The discussion will be followed by a signing and light reception. Tickets are $35 and include a signed, hardcover copy of the book. We hope you are able to join us!

LOCATION
Academic Bistro
101 N 33rd Street, 6th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19104

Register

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gabrielle Hamilton is the author of the New York Times bestseller Blood, Bones & Butter, which won the James Beard Foundation’s award for Writing and Literature, and the cookbook Prune. She is the chef/owner of Prune restaurant in New York City’s East Village. Hamilton received an MFA in fiction writing from the University of Michigan and contributed to the monthly “Eat” column for The New York Times Magazine for five years. Her work has also appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, GQ, Bon Appétit, Vogue, The Wall Street Journal, Elle and House Beautiful.

ABOUT NEXT OF KIN

An electrifying memoir about the demise of a singular family—a stunning new book by Gabrielle Hamilton, author of the New York Times bestseller and James Beard Award-winner Blood, Bones & Butter.

The youngest of five children, Gabrielle Hamilton took pride in her unsentimental, idiosyncratic family. She idolized her parents’ charisma and non-conformity. She worshipped her siblings’ mischievousness and flair. Hers was a family with no fondness for the humdrum.

Hamilton grew up to find enormous success, first as a chef and then as the author of award-winning, bestselling books. But her family ties frayed in ways both seismic and mundane until eventually she was estranged from them all. In the wake of one brother’s sudden death and another’s suicide, while raising young children of her own, Hamilton was compelled to examine the sprawling, complicated root system underlying her losses. She began investigating her family's devout independence and individualism with a nearly forensic rigor, soon discovering a sobering warning in their long-held self-satisfaction. By the time she was called to care for her declining mother&emdash;the mother she’d seen only twice in thirty years&emdash;Hamilton had realized a certain freedom, one made possible only through a careful psychological autopsy of her family.

Hamilton’s gift for pungent dialogue, propulsive storytelling, intense honesty and raucous humor made her first book a classic of modern memoir. In Next of Kin, she offers a keen and compassionate portrait of the people she grew up with and the prevailing but soon-to-falter ethos of the era that produced them. A personal account of one family’s disintegration, Next of Kin is also a universal story of the emotional clarity that comes from scrutinizing our family mythologies and seeing through to the other side.

ABOUT ELLEN YIN

Ellen Yin, a James Beard “Outstanding Restaurateur” (2023), is a leader in Philadelphia’s culinary and civic scenes, serving on several local and national boards. She is also co-founder of Sisterly Love Collective, which supports women entrepreneurs in the restaurant and culinary space. Ellen holds both her undergraduate and MBA degrees from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

For inquiries, contact Prof. Paul O'Neill at pgo27@drexel.edu.
For sponsorship inquiries, contact Heather Procaccino at hp499@drexel.edu.
For media inquiries, contact Annie Korp at amk522@drexel.edu.

The Philly Chef Conference is hosted by Drexel University's Food and Hospitality Management Department. The mission of this annual conference is to engage our students with industry leaders while also connecting members of the restaurant community through a day of education.

The conference is an annual event designed to convene the regional food community and to showcase the latest food and beverage ideas and techniques through educational lectures, panel discussions and demonstrations. It brings together the best chefs, food producers and personalities and links established food and hospitality professionals with aspiring students and young industry professionals.

The Philly Chef Conference is a trademark of Drexel University and is not affiliated with other food or culinary conferences in Philadelphia. It was founded by alumni of the food and hospitality management programs in 2013 and has been held annually, led by the Philly Chef Conference Planning Committee, which includes Drexel faculty, professional staff and industry leaders.