Miami’s booming restaurant scene takes center stage this week at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival. There, old favorites and up-and-coming chefs want to create more than just a few dishes.
The 23rd annual event, which runs Thursday through Sunday, draws not only foodies but also executives from the myriad companies that support the food industry.
“For chefs, it’s like the Super Bowl and Spring Break,” festival founder Lee Schrager told Side Dish.
“Agents, book publishers, pot and pan companies all come in to sign chefs.”
Celebrity chef Todd English, who will return as a guest this year, recalled how his career took off when he attended one of the early festivals.
At the time, English was a rising star, but little known outside of Boston, where he founded Olive’s restaurant. But a chance encounter with a representative from hotelier Barry Sternlicht led English to launch a restaurant at the St. Regis in Aspen, Colorado.
The rest was culinary history.
“Sometimes deals happen when you’re interacting. People approach you. They like what you’re doing and they exchange information,” English tells Side Dish. , added that the festival has evolved along with the food industry.
“Chefs are like musicians now,” he said. “There are so many musicians and songs, and there are more chefs than ever before. … It’s very competitive.”
Another festival trailblazer returning this year is TV personality Rachael Ray, returning for the first time since 2019.
It was Ray who came up with the festival’s signature event, the Thursday night “Burger Bash.” This event has now become so popular that scalpers appear.
“I thought, what would happen if the best chefs in the world tried to do something really stupid and less fancy than what they normally do, like making sliders,” Ray said. The daytime talk show “Rachel Ray” ended last. May, 17 seasons later.
Ray, who also runs the pet food company Nutrish, also launched Yappy Hour, a festival aimed at foodies and their pets.
This week, she’ll be pushing her new brand, Staple Gin, a made-in-New York liqueur line that debuts in the spring.
Ray explores how gin works in recipes, such as the Dirty Martini Shrimp and Linguini dish, which uses half a cup of Staple Gin, distilled north of Roscoe in partnership with Brian Fake’s Do Good Spirits. We will hold a cooking demonstration to show how it can be used.
Despite the familiar faces, a lot has changed in the past two decades. What started as a sleepy, laid-back festival with a barefoot, beach, “bubbly and barbecue” atmosphere has evolved into a huge tasting tent and events held in various regions for over 60,000 ticket holders. and changed his appearance.
The four-day gastronomic feast stretches from South Beach to Miami’s new trendy neighborhoods like the Design District and Coconut Grove.
New York restaurateurs are taking the lead, responding to the influx of pandemic transplants opening outposts like Carbone’s.
“When we started the festival, there were only two anchor restaurants: Joe’s Stone Crab in the south and The Forge in the north, that was it,” said Southern Glazer, the world’s largest wine company.・Mr. Schrager, chief communications officer of Wine & Spirits, said: Distilled liquor seller.
“Our commitment to hosting events in the Design District is selling out. If the beach isn’t your thing, we have Greenmarket events. We’ve also created two new signature events at the Grove. There are people from all over the world there,” Schrager said.
This year, 500 chefs from as far away as New Zealand, Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Colombia and Peru will take part in the festival, as well as food influencers with “millions of followers” who will also take part in the Foodacon event, Schrager said. added. .
