By Hillary Latos
As we cannot live without our credit cards, not all credit cards are created equally. With a huge choice of different options and perks, it can be daunting to find the best one that is suited for you. But beyond earning points for travel awards, if you are like us and love to be treated like a VIP at events around the world, Chase Sapphire offers those extra perks only available to card members.
On a recent trip to the 100th PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis with Chase Sapphire we were able to experience the Chase Sapphire Cardmember Club and Hospitality Chalet. And membership does have its perks.
For an elevated PGA experience, we were privy to the various Chase Sapphire cardmember packages including the chalet, grounds tickets and special gourmet dining experiences including an intimate tasting dinner at Mediterranean hotspot Elaia. For the ultimate VIP experience, Sapphire cardmembers could buy packages with access to the hospitality chalet in the PGA Partner Village that offered an open bar and complementary gourmet food with reserved outdoor seating overlooking Hole 10. While the Chase Sapphire Cardmember Club was open to all Chase Sapphire card holders who could enjoy a private hospitality space with bathrooms, a premium view with seating, air conditioning, special chef demos, wine tastings and complimentary non alcoholic beverages. While the world's best golfers were competing with one another we got to experience a culinary match up between celebrated chefs Roy Choi and Joe Flamm.
Roy Choi revolutionized the food truck experience in LA, so much that he was the culinary consultant to Jon Favreau on Chef. "We made the experience more democratic, we moved the needle and broke the walls between fine dining and what it means to have good food and what it means to not have it and built a bridge between it. What you see now with pop ups, communal seating, Kogi had a lot to do with that and part of a movement with social media putting our lives back in our hand. The past was about exclusion and the future is about inclusion, because there's a whole new audience. I do think that I along with David Chang brought Asian cuisine more into the mainstream." As his first time participating in the Chase Sapphire Lounge, Choi said, "I really wanted to come to Saint Louis, I grew up golfing. Chase made this a great experience."
Top Chef winner Joe Flamm has his roots in Chicago as the Executive Chef of the Michelin starred Spiaggia which specializes in fine Italian cuisine. As a first timer to participating at the Chase Sapphire PGA lounge, "This was a great experience to interact with some of my fans. Even though its exclusive this was still accessible for them to watch us cook."
But the Chase Sapphire cardmember perks don't stop there. This September and October, Chase Sapphire presents The Seaport Food Lab—the Seaport District's experiential hub for today's leading culinary visionaries—back for its second year with an all female lineup of chefs. This year features the skills of pioneering women chefs from across the world, ranging from butchery to baking. Eight resident chefs will participate in hosting a series of gastronomic exhibitions over the course of six weeks, each telling their unique story about the contributions they have made through varying culinary innovations and techniques.
Chase Sapphire is always looking to inspire the inner culinary explorer in all of us with a series of dining programs that offer access to unique and exclusive epicurean experiences. In addition to giving consumers the chance to get a taste of today's most innovative chefs, the Seaport Food Lab will also provide its all-star roster of female chefs a platform to experiment with one-of-a-kind creations and explore their culinary vision.
Each resident chef will debut an exclusive menu for six nights in a dinner party format. This year's chefs include:
Priced at $115 per ticket inclusive of tax and tip,
Seaport Food Lab is located at 203 Front Street, and will be open Tuesday through Sunday starting at 7:00 pm. For additional information, please visit SeaportFoodLab.com