McDonald's chef's table: Top Chef winner hosts a free tasting

McDonald's chef's table, the first in the chain's history, will run for one day only in New York on 29 October, with Top Chef season 22 winner Tristen Epps-Long guiding guests through a tasting menu of the brand's own classics. Seats are free and can be booked from 22 October.

The company calls the event Inside the Golden Arches. According to Dexerto, it takes place at 145 Borinquen Place in Brooklyn. Reservations open at 1 p.m. Eastern Time on a Cvent registration page, on a first-come, first-served basis, with a maximum of two seats per booking. Guests must bring identification to confirm the reservation, and casual dress is accepted.

A tasting menu without substitutions

The only tasting menu in New York where asking for no pickles is off the table.

The menu is fixed and short: Quarter Pounder with Cheese, Egg McMuffin, Chicken McNuggets and World Famous Fries. The burger is the centrepiece and is prepared in front of diners, while chefs and company experts explain ingredients, details and kitchen processes. Dexerto reports that the menu cannot be modified, which makes it possibly the only tasting menu in New York where asking for no pickles is off the table.

Gina Hardy, McDonald's vice president of US marketing and menu strategy, said the event "is about creating a new level of access and transparency for our fans". The company repeats the points it has made about the Quarter Pounder for years: 100% beef, never frozen, delivered to restaurants two to three times a week and cooked once it is ordered.

Why McDonald's chef's table needs a Top Chef winner

Epps-Long won the 22nd season of Bravo's Top Chef in June 2025. He started out behind a McDonald's counter, like roughly one in eight Americans, according to the company. "McDonald's was where I got my start, and the experience helped shape the way I think about food and hospitality," he said in the announcement.

The format borrows the vocabulary of fine dining, where the chef's table is usually the most coveted seat in a restaurant and is booked well ahead. New York has had a busy autumn of serious openings, from One Bryant Park, where Kappo Sono is moving in, to smaller neighbourhood rooms. This one has no bill, and its dishes are on every menu board in the country.

The commercial point arrives four days later. From 2 November, the Quarter Pounder with Cheese meal, with medium fries and a drink, will cost $8 at participating US restaurants for a limited time. The company is headquartered in Chicago, a city with a rather different list of restaurants worth booking. It has not said how many seats the Brooklyn table holds.