The Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island will host Michelin-starred chef Ron Hsu and Advanced Sommelier Sarah Thomas for a $45 culinary event during the resort's 4th Annual Amelia Island Cookout, running Thursday, Oct. 15, through Sunday, Oct. 18.

Tickets include the program, appetizers prepared from the chefs' cookbooks and a glass of wine. Book signings follow the on-stage conversation, according to the Fernandina Observer.

Michelin-starred chef brings Southern, Asian influences

Hsu, chef-owner of Atlanta's Lazy Betty, earned a Michelin star in the restaurant's 2023, 2024 and 2025 dining guides. He opened Lazy Betty in 2019 with fellow Le Bernardin chef Aaron Phillips, Rough Draft Atlanta reported. Before that, he served as creative director at Eric Ripert's three-Michelin-starred New York restaurant. He competed on Netflix's "The Final Table."

His debut cookbook, "Down South + East: A Chinese American Cookbook," published March 17, blends Southern, Chinese and Taiwanese cooking rooted in his childhood in Stockbridge, Georgia. His parents ran a group of Chinese restaurants called Hunan Village. Lazy Betty is named after his late mother, Betty Hsu.

"Food gets past surface differences. You find harmony on a plate and you can apply that to life," Hsu told Garden & Gun in March about the cookbook's philosophy.

Thomas, an Advanced Sommelier who worked at Le Bernardin from 2014 to 2020, co-founded Kalamata's Kitchen, a children's book series that uses food and travel to introduce kids to different cultures. The daughter of two South Indian immigrants, she grew up in Somerset, Pennsylvania, and earned her Advanced Sommelier certification while working in Pittsburgh.

Copies of Hsu's cookbook ($40) and Thomas's "Kalamata's Kitchen" ($21) can be pre-ordered with a reservation.

Cookout brings more than 20 experiences to Amelia Island

The broader cookout weekend features more than 20 experiences at the Ritz-Carlton, including fishing with chefs, chef demonstrations, afterglow parties and live music.

Events extend into historic Fernandina Beach with collaborative dinners, a wine sunset cruise, a cigar and port experience and a Southern-style oyster roast.

Chef Okan Kizilbayir, culinary director of the festival and chef de cuisine of Salt at the Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island, leads the weekend's culinary programming, according to the event website.

County considered $65,000 tourism sponsorship

Nassau County's Board of County Commissioners had a $65,000 Tourist Development Tax sponsorship agreement with the Ritz-Carlton for the 2026 cookout on its July 15 consent agenda. The vote outcome was not confirmed in public records available as of publication.

Tickets and the full schedule are available at ameliaislandcookout.com.