Playing Chicken

Lee Brian Schrager has long been the mastermind of Miami’s culinary scene. No, he’s not exactly a household name, not in the way chefs Michelle Bernstein and Michael Schwartz have become local celebrities. But he’s the driving force behind the South Beach Wine & Food Festival, which brings the nation’s most celebrated culinary minds to the Magic City’s shores each year. Schrager’s superpower is his ability to produce a mega-event studded with stars such as Masaharu Morimoto, Bobby Flay, Giada De Laurentiis, and Martha Stewart year after year. Along the way, he’s picked up some killer recipes, especially those for his personal weakness, fried chicken. Schrager’s book, Fried & True, compiles more than 50 recipes for the crisp bird and the side dishes that pair best with it, including those used by chefs such as Wylie Dufresne and Marcus Samuelsson. Schrager will celebrate the book’s publication with a dinner party Tuesday at Pérez Art Museum Miami (1103 Biscayne Blvd., Miami), the perfect locale to fete a man who’s made a career of treating food as an art form. Attendees can preview recipes from the book, wash it all down with sangria, and go home with their own copy of Fried & True.
Tue., May 27, 6 p.m., 2014