If you really love food, sometimes sitting down at your favorite restaurant is just not enough. Hardcore foodies need four days of endless eating and drinking. We’re talking about the South Beach Wine & Food Festival. Alex Miranda is loosening his belt but still keeping his pants on for a preview of all the action.
It’s a really tough assignment. I’ve been eating burgers all day, like this monster-sized burger from La Birra Bar. It’s in Wynwood and North Miami Beach, and they won SOBEWFF’s Burger Bash back in 2022.
Lisandro, La Birra Bar: “This year we’re bringing a new recipe with the best from Argentina, the best meat and homemade bun, with the best ingredients and the secret sauce, of course.”
SOBEWFF is like Christmas in February, for anybody with a pulse … and appetite.
Lee Brian Schrager, founder, SOBEWFF: “That’s what we’re known for: eating good food, having good time and having great weather in the dead of winter everywhere else.”
The star-studded extravaganza of indulgence for your taste buds, Thursday thru Sunday, features 105 events.
Lee Brian Schrager: “We like to say that we have something for everybody.”
And brings in more than 500 experts.
Lee Brian Schrager: “Where else can you have a Bobby Flay and a Rachael Ray and a Tyler Florence and Anne Burrell and Alex Guarnaschelli?”
Thursday, from 7:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., Rachael Ray is back to host the epic showdown Heinz Burger Bash.
Your assignment: judge 30 mouthwatering burgers and side dishes. Bummer!
Lee Brian Schrager: “Chefs are very competitive. Everyone likes to win.”
General admission is $275, so eat up and drink up, because everything is included: seconds, thirds, fourths…
The entrance is right on the sand at 1 Lincoln Road.
Lee Brian Schrager: “It’s just great to be back celebrating 23 years to eat, drink and educate here in South Florida. I think it’s a great opportunity to really showcase where Miami today is. You want quiet? Go to a dinner, go to a wine seminar. You want a party like you;re in South Beach? Go to any of our signature events.”
Friday, Guy Fieri is hosting “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” live, in the same spot, at the same time. They call it a “no-frills but flavor-packed culinary journey across America.” Tickets start at $175. (Hair gel not included.)
Lee Brian Schrager: “Food is that one thing that brings us all together. Not everyone goes to sports, games, not everyone goes to a concert. Everybody eats.”
And to date, the festival has raised more than $37 million for Florida International University’s Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management. That’s a mouthful.
Lee Brian Schrager: “It’s now one of the biggest and most important wine and food festivals in the country. It started in South Beach. We’re in Coral Gables, we’re in Coconut Grove, we’re in South Miami, we’re in Wynwood, we’re in the Design District, we’re in Little River, and we’re in Hallandale.”
FOR MORE INFO:
South Beach Wine & Food Festival
Feb. 22-25, 2024
sobewff.org/events
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