Category Archives: South Beach Wine & Food

Bringing the Farm to Brunch with Maws, Reusing & Cushman at #SOBEWFF

Who loves conference calls? We do! It helps when you have four of the best chefs in the country on the line, all in good spirits despite the temptation of what we around these parts like to call Grinchmas, and willing to tackle what isn’t the easiest of event formats — but easily the most fulfilling.

It’s called the Farm-to-Table Brunch, and Michael is hosting it for the first year at the 2012 South Beach Wine & Food Festival with guest chefs Tim Cushman (o ya restaurant, Boston, MA,) Tony Maws (Craigie on Main, Cambridge, MA,) and Andrea Reusing (Lantern, Chapel Hill, NC.) The event will be held on Saturday, February 25 at noon at the Miami Beach Botanical Garden.

We’re doing things a bit different, not unlike our first annual Slow Food Day Grand Cayman.  Instead of the chefs determining what they want to make and us finding the product for them, the food and beverage will come together like it does each day at MGFD, starting with what’s fresh and available.  We have supplied the chefs with a list of our favorite local suppliers and have asked them to decide who they want to work with for their dishes, which will each include a passed hors d’oeuvre and two stationed plates — one savory and one sweet — like our Sunday Brunch menu.

Tickets are now on sale for a steal ($175,) so please join us for what will be a fun and delicious afternoon in good company!  For a list of participating farmers, who will all try to be present at the event, follow the jump.  We’ll keep you posted here as we continue to plan this and our other events including Hedy Goldsmith’s home run at the Miami Marlins Ballpark, Diamond Dishes.

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[UPDATED] The Homestretch

Thanks Jamie. We think you're great, too.

UPDATE: Visit our Flickr for photos of Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink Brunch at Sea with Jonathan Waxman and Burger Bash with Rachael Ray. And a special thank you to Sarah de Heer for jumping onto the line to pierce hundreds of cornichons at Burger Bash, and her most excellent AOL Slashfood story documenting it all behind-the-scenes.  Her photo gallery is here on Facebook.

What a week it has been! Besides our events, the last of which is Brunch at Sea today (follow my tweets with #brunchatsea,) the energy has been awesome in the restaurant.  Those of you who have come by know that Michael has spent as much time in the kitchen as he has on the beach.  I loved overhearing Giada de Laurentiis remark to Michael “so you’re the one I keep hearing we have to visit!” as she signed next to him in the Books & Books tent at the Grand Tasting Village yesterday morning. She’ll join us for brunch (at the restaurant) today.

We feel very lucky to be a restaurant where visiting chefs want to dine when they need a little R&R from the madness — from Jamie Oliver to our good buddies Jonathan Waxman and Joey Campanaro, who have been so very helpful with working our events. In fact it’s this all-hands-on-deck spirit of the festival that we love most, bringing out the best in the industry, everyone jumping into the fray to help plate, prep, you name it.  You truly get to see exactly why these chefs and the teams of people supporting them are so successful at what they do. Thank you to everyone, especially the brilliant front and back of house teams at MGFD who rocked the 2011 South Beach Wine & Food Festival inside and out. Stay tuned for our photos, which I should hopefully be able to get up on Flickr and update with a link here tomorrow.

With Love and Respect,

Jackie

Getting Ready for Tonight’s Burger Bash, Best #SBWFF Event of All Time

MGFD Intern and Miami Ad School "Pop Culture Specialist" student Renata Herminio (pictured left) snags behind the scenes video footage for AOL Slashfood's coverage of the 2011 Amstel Light Burger Bash as Michael and the team ready our ingredients.

The Amstel Light Burger Bash Hosted By Rachael Ray has opened the South Beach Wine & Food Festival since 2007 and is one of our favorite events! Doors open on the fifth BB tonight at 6:15 p.m. (VIP) and 7:00 p.m. (general admission ticket holders,) on the Ritz-Carlton, South Beach beachfront.

Michael will be defending the Allen Brothers Golden Grill Award, a juried best burger title, which he won last year with the Genuine Bacon Cheeseburger, a classic.   This year he’s chosen to debut a new burger, the Genuine Bacon Egg & Cheeseburger with heirloom tomato chutney, white cheddar, & quail egg on a potato bun featuring White Oak Pastures grass fed beef, which we love and are now starting to use at the restaurant.  It may be time for a People’s Choice Award.  I’m just sayin’!

We are excited to see many of our friends, drink many ice cold Amstel Lights (this Festival is going to be a  HOT one judging by today’s temperature!), and eat some beef.  Hope to see you on the sand later.  And please.  Do yourselves a favor and come prepared by studying  this map the Miami New Times’ Short Order food blog so thoughtfully posted.  You can’t possibly tackle them all, and some are more worth it than others!

Also, don’t forget to catch Michael from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. today on WLRN 91.3 FM (NPR for South Florida) as he guest-hosts Food News and Views with Miami Herald food columnist and author Linda Gassenheimer.  Chef is bringing a box of finished burgers for Linda and co-host Miami Herald wine columnist Fred Tasker to preview before the crowds devour all 1,500 portions at the big event tonight! Of course South Beach Wine and Food Festival is the topic, and Linda will interview Michael about his participation in the Festival and his new book, MICHAEL’S GENUINE FOOD: Down-to-Earth Cooking for People Who Love to Eat (Clarkson Potter; $35.)  They’ll eat burgers and take calls from Food Network stars and YOU (call 800-743-9576 when phone lines open at 1:00 p.m.!) The broadcast will be heard on public radio stations from Palm Beach to Key West.  It can be heard world-wide at www.wlrn.org.  It will be podcast on the Miami Herald website.