Female fans rushed Scarpetta’s Scott Conant at yesterday’s South Beach Wine & Food Festival Barilla Interactive Lunch at the Biltmore Hotel. They wanted to snap his picture. “I haven’t gotten this much attention since my wedding,” he told an audience of about 200. Some jumped on stage as Conant prepared…
To the rhythm of the bongos, bubbly in-hand, we bopped down the horseshoe of booths at last night’s Perrier-Jouet Bubble Q. It’s an event you accept for its woes as much as its wows. Expecting fabulous food, easy maneuvering in the crowds and glimpsing the big man would have been…
Best use of pork belly (and there was a lot of pork belly) was this satsuma glazed square with cilantro and marinated beets on the side from Susan Zemanick, chef of Gautreau’s in New Orleans:Best single bite of food at the affair was foie gras bon bons from Beast, in…
Even the best things in life come to an end, and so it goes with SBWFF’s Best of the Best. Oh sure, it still presents great national chefs putting out delicious tidbits and fantastic vintners pouring wonderful wines. We’re not suggesting it’s a bad time at all. In fact, we…
There’s something to be said of that old cliché, “The early bird gets the worm,” as was evidenced by the line stretching from the peach lifeguard stand to the red, white, and blue one even 20 minutes before the Wine Spectator Trade Tent/Grand Tasting Village officially opened Friday afternoon. Hundreds…
Nearly 100 journalists, sponsors, and other industry types attended a private welcome brunch at The Betsy Hotel’s rooftop this morning to kick-off the South Beach Wine & Food Festival and, lo and behold, there was Daniel Boulud mixing amongst the common folk…
South Beach Wine and Food Festival is here, but it wouldn’t be without the FIU student volunteers who gain invaluable real world experience by creating the infrastructure, handling the logistics, cooking the food, dealing with sponsors, and a million other jobs that nobody thinks about while they’re drunk in a…
Getting an interview with Chef Jonathan Wright was as difficult as, well, trying to eat hot and sour soup with chopsticks. But we forgive the delay; he’s a busy guy. Tonight, as a matter of fact, you can catch him at Wine Spectator’s Best of the Best presenting a tasting…
David Ortiz, president of the U.S. Bartender’s Guild Miami Chapter and mixologist extraordinaire, may not be the only one around here who makes mojitos, but as far as we can tell, his version is as truly tropical as it gets. Ask for him at Club 50 or try this in your kitchen…
Jonathan Eismann’s Q American Barbeque is officially open for business. The above image is from 8:52 p.m. at last night’s grand opening celebration, which featured free food, free beer, and free shots of liquor…
Midtown upstart Sakaya Kitchen’s Ssam lettuce wrap holds angus beef “bulgogi,” scallion ginger sauce, fresh edamame, rice pearls, and Ssamjang in organic Swank Farms green butterhead lettuce. Ssam is the Korean method of wrapping bite-size meats in leafy vegetables.The dish was available for free sampling in biodegradable wheat bowls last…
Chef Michael Schwartz took top honors at the 2010 Amstel Light Burger Bash last night, earning the Allen Brothers Golden Grill Award – the judge’s choice for best burger. Twenty-seven patties were battling for this and three other awards inside a smoky tent on the beach outside the Ritz-Carlton. Schwartz…
Tonight’s SBWFF Perrier-Jouët Bubble Q will feature a whole lot of very talented chefs, but make sure to check out whatever Mauro Colagreco is cooking up. I had the privilege of sampling his food at a Graffigna wine luncheon at the W Hotel South Beach this week, and it was…
The proposed class-action lawsuit against Yelp we described earlier today is gonna be ugly.The guy who’s going to make it that way is Jared Beck, a Harvard grad who plans on being the bulldog here. The Miami lawyer — who also practices in California, where the suit was filed –…
Aracataca, a restaurant promising to serve “Colombian chic cuisine,” opens its doors tonight in Key Biscayne. Named after the town in Colombia famous for being the birthplace of novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the restaurant replaces French bistro Le Croisic. The locale and owners are the same. “We’re going to be…
In the wake of their impressive SBWFF kickoff last night, it seems the folks at Red want everyone to know they’re putting out a serious contender in the battle of the beef (a.k.a. Burger Bash) competition tonight, also. Chef Jonathan Bennett, the executive chef at Red, the Steakhouse and Moxie,…
While it was not an official SBWFF event, last night’s Au Bon Climat wine dinner at Emeril’s Miami Beach sure felt like one. Oenophiles and foodies alike came together for a six-course dinner and wine pairing. Celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse was in the kitchen expediting the New Orleans’ style cuisine…
Our spies at JFK tell us that Anthony Bourdain is sitting in seat 2B on Delta’s flight to MIA right now. The No Reservations star is traveling with his wife, Ottavia, and their daughter, Ariane, in business class. Apparently, Ottavia is reading the National Enquirer while the plane readies for…
A year ago, the East Bay Express went public with stinging accusations that user review site Yelp engaged in shady pressure tactics to remove or bury negative reviews for businesses that advertised or coughed up sponsorships. Now, a lawsuit is alleging something eerily similar.TechCrunch is reporting that law firms in…
The Place: CJ’s Crab Shack 600 Ocean Drive, Miami Beach, FL 33139, 305-604-5951/cjscrabshack.com The Hours: Every day from 4 to 7 p.m. with occasional late night happy hours. The Deal: Food specials include Cajun Pool N’ Eat Shrimp, a half a dozen oysters, and Buffalo wings, all ranging in price…
Short Order will be all over the SBWFF this week, reporting as we go. But we’ll also be choosing our favorite foods from each affair. What we liked best at last night’s Peter Vauthy/Michael Symon Prelude Dinner at Red, The Steakhouse was this Certified Angus Beef brisket slider with pickled…
The SBWFF kicked off in rousing fashion last night as Red, The Steakhouse put on quite the Prelude party. It started on Red’s rooftop, where guests sipped on Langlois-Chateau Crémant de Loire Brut Rosé and nibbled on hors d’oeuvres such as Angus beef rib cap (spinalis) with charred scallion and…
