What a great weekend to have been in Miami! The South Beach Wine & Food Festival went on from Thursday, February 23rd, through Sunday, February 26th, with different events going on each day. I had the absolute fortune to attend the opening party, "The Q", hosted by celebrity chefs Emeril Lagasse and Guy Fieri.Set up behind the Delano, right on the beach, the smells of barbecue and ocean water hit your nose as soon as you handed over your coveted ticket. That's right, folks! barbecue was the theme of the night! About a city block’s worth of beach space was transformed into a barbecue wonderland, with chefs having set up booths on the left and right and various bars set up right down the center. The very first thing we did was hit up the bar for a truly lovely little cocktail called a "Grand Berry". Consisting of Grand Marnier liqueur, cranberry juice, and fresh lime juice, it was a great sweet, crisp and light choice to get our mouths ready for the smokey, savory, deliciousness of the food we would soon glut ourselves on. And glut we did!
All said and done, we managed to hit up 10 chefs. Although everyone produced a great product, there were a few unquestionable stand outs in the crowd, the first being Guy Fieri. I'll admit to having a bit of a foodie crush on this man, but please believe me when I say that his food was hands down the best of the night. Everything about his "banh mi taco with BBQ chicken fried Rice" was great! The best word I can use to describe it would have be "dynamic", as it exploded in my mouth with flavor. While everyone else seemed to be pushing ribs and coleslaw here comes Guy Fieri with the last thing I would expect to find at a barbecue.
The very first thing we saw when we approached Guy's table was the man, himself, wearing his signature shades, laughing uproariously and popping a bottle of Moët, which he poured for his fellow chefs working the booth with him. A lot can be said for presentation, as well. Some of the dishes we tried were alright, they tasted just fine, we enjoyed them...but they were served to us on little paper plates. Not Guy! He served his in a corn husk boat with a generous pile of yummy rice, two light corn tortillas, and chopped scallions as garnish. Lovely.Another stand out of the night for me was Nadia G of Bitchin' Kitchen fame. I got a chance to talk to her a little while in line for her yummy "slow smoked pork belly with balsamic BBQ sauce, green onion and cucumber on an open-faced challah bun sandwich". She couldn't have been nicer, and she told me she was having a great time in beautiful Miami and having great fun with the South Beach Wine & Food Festival. Her food was excellent! The pork was super tender and had a nice smokey flavor to it, and the barbecue sauce added a certain sweetness and tang that really went well with the relative mildness of the bun. All in all I was very impressed by her dish.
The band was rocking, the cocktails were flowing, and I hit up the Godiva Chocolate bar more than once. To cleanse my palate, of course. I had a grand time.