I typically use Chase points for flights, but after attending an exclusive dinner with chef Curtis Stone, I think Chase Sapphire Experiences can be a great option

Eric Rosenberg

Lucky Chase Sapphire cardholders enjoyed a meal at Curtis Stone's restaurant Gwen in Hollywood.

• Chase Ultimate Rewards points give you many redemption options, including exclusive events just for people with Chase credit cards.
• Experiences include concerts, sporting events, and unique restaurant experiences, such as a recent cooking and dining experience at Michelin-starred restaurant Gwen.
• I attended this event and had an amazing time. I got to cook with celebrity chef Curtis Stone and then enjoy incredible meal.
• Read more personal finance coverage.

If you think of yourself as a foodie, you should know about the exclusive Sapphire events hosted by Chase. I was lucky enough to attend one of these events with celebrity chef Curtis Stone at his Michelin-starred restaurant Gwen in Hollywood. This wasn't just some fancy dinner; it was really a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

If you're looking for unique opportunities for fine dining, concerts, or sporting events, Chase points earned from the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card or the Chase Sapphire Reserve may be the key to unlocking amazing memories. Here's how my first-ever Chase event went, and why these experiences may be a good use of your valuable points.

Keep in mind that we're focusing on the rewards and perks that make these credit cards great options, not things like interest rates and late fees, which will far outweigh the value of any points or miles. It's important to practice financial discipline when using credit cards by paying your balances in full each month, making payments on time, and only spending what you can afford to pay back.

Read more: The best Chase cards

Chase Sapphire experiences

I've earned hundreds of thousands of points with my Chase Sapphire Reserve card, which I upgraded from the Chase Sapphire Preferred. In the past I've only redeemed points for travel - mostly flights - but that's definitely not the only redemption option.

Chase holds events periodically around the country in big markets like New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, among others. A member of the Chase event team shared that their goal is to "make an already interesting life more memorable." They certainly hit the mark with the event at Gwen, which put every attendee elbow to elbow with Curtis Stone, whose name was on the list when I searched for "most famous chefs in the world" on Google.

This experience came with two options. I was lucky enough to enjoy the first option, though a good-sized group came in just for the dinner with the second package.



• Option 1: Cook and dine with Chef Curtis Stone & Teresa Cabansag, $495 (49,500 points) - includes quickfire cooking class with the chefs, multi-course meal with menu discussion and wine pairings, welcome reception and more
• Option 2: Dine out with Chef Curtis Stone & Teresa Cabansag, $350 (35,000 points) - includes multi-course meal with menu discussion and wine pairings, welcome reception and more

An evening at Michelin-starred Gwen LA

Eric Rosenberg

Celebrity chef Curtis Stone preparing for a Chase Sapphire event at his Michelin-starred restaurant Gwen.

Guests were welcomed with free valet parking and a delicious beverage. All food and drink was included for the entire evening with the event reservation. I enjoyed a mezcal chartreuse cocktail as I took in the beautiful setting and hors d'oeuvres.

Since I opted for the first package, we started out with a cooking competition where every attendee had an opportunity to cook a dish just like a Top Chef challenge. All of our dishes included chorizo that was prepared in-house at Gwen's butcher shop.

Eric Rosenberg

A small group was invited into Gwen's test kitchen to cook with the celebrity chef and his team. I learned I'm better at decorating a pizza than rolling out the dough and had a ton of fun in the process.

From there, we went down to the main restaurant, where every guest enjoyed a wine-paired dinner complete with wagyu beef and other delicacies. The entire menu was customized just for us, and it really did feel like an event like no other.

I've eaten well at restaurants around the world, and this one definitely ranked among the top. My sister, a self-proclaimed foodie and food traveler, was jealous that I had an evening with one of her favorite TV chefs. She has a Sapphire Reserve card too, so an event like this may be in her future.

Unique, once-in-a-lifetime experiences

"Chase was doing a program where they wanted to give guests great restaurant experiences," shared Stone. "We have the space upstairs that we really never use for events like this… Doing stuff that's out of the ordinary is always fun."

Chase does research on major passion points in the lives of its customers and tries to create unique events around those themes. Lately, those have included speakeasy and cocktail events, chef events like the one I attended, and meet-and-greets at exclusive, small-venue concerts with artists like Lennon Stella.

I'm always hesitant to cash in Chase Ultimate Reward points for anything less than top-dollar values. That usually leads to airfare. But you can't put a price on a dinner with your favorite chef at a restaurant where you may not be able to get a reservation otherwise. You can't put a dollar value on taking your kids to sit on the sidelines for a home game of your favorite team. That's where it's up to you to decide if the event is a good use of your points.

Read more: How to earn, redeem, and maximize Chase Ultimate Rewards points

Picking the right Chase event for you

Eric Rosenberg

Writer Eric Rosenberg with celebrity chef Curtis Stone.

Different cards unlock different levels of experiences in your Chase account online. All Chase customers can access "Select" level events. Preferred and Reserve tiers become available with higher-level cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Ink Business Preferred Credit Card (Preferred experiences) as well as the Chase Sapphire Reserve and J.P. Morgan Reserve cards (Reserve experiences).

Now that I've been to a Chase experience, I'm very much open to trying one again in the future. If you have a growing stockpile of Ultimate Rewards points and want to try a once-in-a-lifetime experience, log in to Ultimate Rewards and click on the "Experiences" tab at the top of the page. From there, your dream night out could be just a few clicks away.

Click here to learn more about the Chase Sapphire Reserve.

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