We're only a couple weeks away from the 2009 South Beach Food and Wine Festival! If you haven't already obtained your tickets, there are still openings for several events. Be sure to read our article on the festival before purchasing tickets.
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Quick notes on our first experience at the Sobe F&W festival: Kicked it off with the BubbleQ at the Delano. Well, not really the Delano but about 200 yards out on the sand facing Delano. Highlights included great food, generous servings, flowing champagne, great music mix by the DJ, Godiva chocolates and Illy coffee. My pick for top bite was Art Smith’s veal tenderloin and crab. Huge admiration for Tom Colicchio and crew for his unrelenting effort behind his BBQ pit while taking time to greet all his fans and paparazzi. Guy Fieri partied like a rock star! He too showed unbelievable support for all his fans and unfathomable stamina. Stephanie Izard and Spike Mendelsohn from Top Chef fame were both class acts. Negatives: disorganized, slow check-in and women’s bathrooms.
Unfortunately the Grand Tasting Village was somewhat of a disappointment. This event was way oversold. The crowds and lineups were deterring from truly enjoying the event. The Breezeway speed line access was short-lived. Food and drink aplenty but on the average the food and wine was grocery store demo quality. The Spain tent was the highlight here (apart from the cook determined to scrape every piece of flesh from the Serrano ham). This will be a no-repeat for us next year.
And alas the much anticipated Tribute Dinner for Emeril at the Loews on Saturday night was a huge disappointment. Loews continues to impress us as a well run hotel. The staff was very accommodating and attentive but lacked some fundamental skills. Repeat attempts to pour champagne from empty bottles was funny at times. Their knowledge of the hors-d’oeuvres was absent as well but despite that the appetizers were quite good. The same could not be said about the dinner. Absolutely embarrassing. A waste of money regardless of any economic situtation. There was extensive use of video about Emeril’s journey in the culinary world. Emeril spoke briefly and was uninspiring. We were honored to meet Mario Batali and it temporarily numbed the painful reminder of this totally lacklustre event.
Paula Deen’s Pants Fall Down On Stage At The South Beach Wine & Food Festival
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MawQeAlsOEs
Video courtesy of Miami New Times
Disappointed with this years events. I had BubbleQ tickets purchased in October but no problems buying them from scalpers for half price. Same for Grand Tasting.
Too many people at all venues compared to last year.
The Guy Fieri show on Saturday was nothing but a mosh pit for making and distributing margaritas. Crowd would do any thing for a drink or free tee shirt. Forget about cooking. He acted like a rock star wannabe and we left early. Will try Aspen next year
I had a great time at the grand tasting on Saturday! Check out this video I did of the event…If you’ve never been you’ll get a decent idea of what it’s all about!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_gvOeVGNYE