Walking into Manresa is always a bit of a surprise. The acclaimed Los Gatos restaurant features a new spread every night—from mouthwatering spring lamb with chickpeas and chamomile; to albacore and crispy cannellini beans and turnips, bean bouillon with lemon verbena; and caramelized white chocolate, milk chocolate ice cream and bittersweet chocolate sorbet. So sitting through its luxurious four-hour, 12 tasting menu is always a unique experience.

But this summer will offer a different kind of surprise. Instead of fare prepared by celebrated Chef David Kinch, known for his use of seasonal California produce to create contemporary American cuisine, diners will be treated to a menu prepared by an international chef—one whose identity won’t be revealed until after plates have been licked clean.

Manresa is one of 37 restaurants worldwide joining in The Grand GELINAZ! Shuffle on July 9, the first event of its kind. Head chefs from each of these restaurants—representing countries such as Japan, Chile, Italy, Thailand and Brazil—will be swapped into each other’s kitchens to prepare an eight-course meal in a completely new culinary culture, without the aid of their usual ingredients, recipes or staff. Kinch is one of three Bay Area chefs to participate in the event, and will be joined San Francisco chefs Dominique Crenn of Atelier Crenn and David Patterson of Coi.

According to organizers Andrea Petrini and Alexandra Swenden, the GELINAZ! Shuffle will spark culinary innovation and help the chefs learn about different culinary traditions.

“The line-up for this performance is a family of chefs who take risk as a starting point, that are neither fearful of creativity nor driven by ego, but are fuelled by a desire to explore,” Petrini said in a statement. “The result has been incredible. A coming together of legendary names of the gastronomic world, side by side with some lesser known, but equally exciting ‘indie’ talent.”

Kinch, who will appear on the next season of PBS’ The Mind of a Chef, is certainly one of those legendary names. His Los Gatos restaurant has been racking up the culinary world’s most prestigious accolades since it opened in 2002. Manresa—named after the state beach in Santa Cruz—was dubbed one of the country’s top restaurants by Gourmet, Bon Apetit, and Forbes, and has held the prestigious two-star Michelin rating for the past nine years. Kinch twice won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Pacific, and even beat celebrity chef Bobby Flay on the Food Network competition show “Iron Chef America.”

To buy tickets for The Grand GELINAZ! Shuffle at Manresa on July 9, go to www.gelinaz.com.