Now in its ninth year, the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival is prepped and ready to rock-n-roll this weekend along the sunny beaches of Miami, Florida. Presented by Food & Wine Magazine, Southern Wine & Spirits, and the Food Network, fans can expect to see all of their television food favorites, from Rachael Ray to Paula Deen to Emeril Lagasse, with a few culinary masters thrown in for good measure. With Chef Mario Batali making waves during last year’s dinner with the King and Queen of Spain, you can expect another round of quotable, memorable moments at this year’s event.
A few of the highlights in this weekend’s schedule:
- Uncorked: Lessons Learned in a Life of Wine, hosted by wine expert Joe Bastianich
- A Tribute Dinner honoring Chef Daniel Boulud
- Wine Spectator’s Best of Best at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach featuring chefs Sean Brock (McCrady’s, Charleston, SC), Mark Fuller (Spring Hill, Seattle, WA), Paul Liebrandt (Corton, New York, NY), Ryan Hardy (Montagna, Aspen, CO), Masaharu Morimoto (Morimoto, New York, NY), Michael White (Marea, New York, NY), Vinny Dotolo and Jon Shook (Animal Restaurant, Los Angeles, CA), Scott Conant and Michael Pirolo (Scarpetta, Fontainebleau Miami Beach, FL), Laurent Tourondel (BLT Steak Miami at the Betsy Hotel), and many more talented chefs.
- Dim Sum & Disco at the Setai hosted by Chefs Ming Tsai and Jonathan Wright
The festival is also hosting an online auction through March 8th featuring top-of-the-line food, wine, and travel items, with proceeds benefiting the Florida International University’s School of Hospitality & Tourism.
Chefs Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert will be broadcasting live from SOBE on February 25th as part of their new radio show, “Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert: Turn & Burn” on Sirius XM’s Martha Stewart Living.
Curious about the history of the South Florida event? The Broward-Palm Beach New Times recently took a look at some of the festival happenings since its inception.
~Jennifer Heigl
*Photo courtesy of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach
