Brunch in Paradise Brings Plant-Based Eats to Paradise Farms

Despite Miami's tropical locale and abundance of beachfront, the city can feel less than paradisiacal at times. If you're itching to bring a little more magic to the proverbial table, this month's Brunch in Paradise at Homestead's Paradise Farms offers an edible escape. 

The event, hosted by Les Dames d'Escoffier Miami (an international organization of professional culinary women) this Sunday, February 21, will include a farm tour by owner Gabrielle Marewski, a fresh-from-the-field vegan lunch by chef Sabrina Dora Lopez of Vesta Foods, and social time with some of Miami-Dade's most sophisticated foodies.

Tucked away in a lush corner of Homestead, Paradise Farms is a bucolic oasis and an elegant spot for brunch lovers. "Growing everything from tropical fruit to microgreens, Paradise Farms lives up to its name. It's close to Miami but a world away, serene and green, abundant, organic, and inspirational," chef and author Ellen Kanner, one of the event's organizers, says of the venue. "Every time I go, I come back recharged."

So what's the premise of Les Dames? "We provide culinary scholarships for young women chefs and for women in transition. We create edible gardens in public spaces, like the Dames' herb and vegetable garden at Miami Beach Botanical Garden. Events like Lunch in Paradise help fund these efforts," Kanner explains.

The family-style, plant-based lunch menu will include bittersweet brassica salad with a passionfruit vinaigrette dressing; lemon tagliatelle with spiced butter and oyster mushrooms; roasted baby beets and carrots with black olive and carambola; heirloom tomatoes with Florida avocado and herbs; and Paradise Farms flower petal iced tea. Dessert will be fresh local carambola, strawberries, and banana topped with passionfruit sauce. 

Specifically, this Lunch in Paradise event is organized through Les Dames Miami's Green Tables Committee, a special arm of the organization. "It connects growers and chefs and consumers; it's our own local farm-to-fork initiative," Kanner says. "And you couldn't ask for a better setting than Paradise Farms. I'm hoping this will be a delicious introduction to plant-based eating for Dames and friends."

The brunch runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, February 21, at Paradise Farms, 19801 SW 320th St., Homestead. Tickets cost $55 for Les Dames members and $60 for nonmembers and can be purchased at lesdamesmiami.org.