Chefs from around the world descend on South Florida for the South Beach Wine & Food Festival, which wrapped up its 15th edition on Sunday. They bring creativity to dishes, reinventing everything from the bread course to burgers to birthday cakes. Here are some of the most appealing foods served throughout the event.
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Washington-based chef David Guas competed in Meatopia with a Polynesian honey grilled tri-tip steak. It was served over a slaw.
Chef Todd English prepared ahi tune haché with uni panna cotta, spiced sesame dressing, and kaffir-lime aioli as the first course at a dinner he hosted with chef Chris Miracolo. The event, held at S3 Restaurant at the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort, was part of the festival’s first Taste of Fort Lauderdale Series.
From Palme d’Or at the Biltmore hotel in Coral Gables came sea urchin royal apple geleé with marinated langoustine. It was served with Bemka golden osetra caviar.
Hawaiian kampachi crudo, served in a shallow tin dish, came from Stephane Caporal, executive chef at Fisher Island Club.
Milk Bar chef Christina Tosi topped a layered birthday cake with a ring of her beloved birthday cake truffles.
Chef Jeremy Ford of the Matador Room at Miami Beach Edition served a lobster taco at Best of the Best.
Chef Antonio Tridenti of Amanera Resort at Playa Grande, Dominican Republic, served a smoky zabaglione—an Italian version of a sabayon—with Beluga caviar.
Another creative dish came from Bourbon Steak Miami, which served truffle dashi broth with steak.
Chef Jose Garces’s take on the classic Spanish scrambled egg dish revuelto added tomato jam, Jamon Iberico, and potato crumbs. The event took place at Nobu Miami at Eden Roc.
A highlight of the Sweet 15 Dessert reception was a fresh take on birthday cake and ice cream from Jean Georges Vongerichten’s Matador and Market restaurants at the Miami Beach Edition hotel. The dish consisted of crème fraîche cake, vanilla bean crémeux, confetti nitro ice cream, raspberry gel, a white chocolate candle, and 23-carat edible gold flake. The event took place at the Villa, Casa Casuarina.
Chef Eric Baker’s Duck and Waffle dish topped a bite-size Belgian waffle with duck, a quail egg, kumquat marmalade, and sorghum syrup. The brunch took place at the Ritz-Carlton Fort Lauderdale.
Offering a twist on a Cuban sandwich, chef Michael Blum of I Heart Mac & Cheese topped a dish of mac 'n' cheese with mojo-infused, slow-roasted pulled pork with a homemade chicharron garnish.
Starting things off at the Cobaya dinner was a light dish of snap peas with leek oil and goat’s milk from Alex Chang, chef at host venue Vagabond Restaurant & Bar.
Another pre-dinner dish was an oyster vichyssoise from chef Andrew Zimmern served in gilded tea cups. The dinner also featured dishes from chefs Vinny Dotolo, Jon Shook, and Carlo Mirarchi.
An elegant dinner hosted by chef Joël Robuchon at the Moore Building featured a dish of oscietra caviar and salmon tartare.
Among the dishes at a dinner at Bianca at Delano was dill seed brioche and umami butter from chef Bradley Kilgore.
One of the first events of the festival, the Director’s V.I.P. Welcome Happy Hour is a casual get-together on the rooftop of the Betsy hotel. Among the passed hors d’oeuvres from chef Laurent Tourondel’s menu at BLT at the Betsy were tempura shrimp steam buns with Napa cabbage slaw and spicy mayo.
For dessert at Lucky Chopsticks, the gourmet mobile dessert truck HipPops served a raspberry lychee sorbet dipped in semi-sweet Belgian chocolate. The beachside event took on the form of an Asian night market.
There were many entries at Burger Bash, which celebrated its 10th year as one of the festival’s signature events. Jersey Dawg, a food truck in South Florida, won the judges’s choice with its slider-style burger, and Masaharu Morimoto won the people’s choice award for a fried burger served with kimchi.
