Restaurants

Marc Summers is about to stuff his face with burgers. The former host of Nickelodeon’s Double Dare, a TV game show where kids (and families) got covered in green slime, will judge the Best of the Bash award at this year’s South Beach Wine & Food Festival Burger Bash. The award, sponsored by restaurant chain Red Robin, gives a chef $10,000 and a chance to get his or her creation on the eatery’s menu.

Barclay Graebner, who opened Wynwood’s Morgans Restaurant in 2010 with Jamaican movie producer Richie Effs, is opening two restaurants after she fell quiet following the closure of Georgia’s Union in the former Joe Allen space in 2012.

When Mari Rubio began culinary school at Johnson & Wales in 2009, she “hated pastry.” Eight years later, Rubio, who now owns her own dessert business, makes the most indulgent cookies in town.

Who says sushi has to involve fish? Let ’em stay in the ocean, because Sushi Garage has your fish-free sushi cravings covered. The Sunset Harbour eatery now offers an array of menu options that are all good for vegan and vegetarian eaters.

Find your way around the South Beach Wine & Food Festival with this map of party and event venues.

It was December, when Richard Hales’ Southern spot, Bird & Bone, had just opened inside the Confidante Miami Beach, that he realized he was out of place. He was standing behind a weathered wood-framed bar turning out smoky Aperol spritzes and bites of auburn fried chicken when a group of drunken, scantily clad vacationers cozied up to him. They had just learned he was the chef.

In the past few years, the mellifluous moniker of chef Chloe Coscarelli has become synonymous with crowd-pleasing vegan eats. After winning Food Network’s Cupcake Wars in 2010, the pretty chef with an infectious smile went on to write three popular cookbooks before opening her groundbreaking NYC eatery, By Chloe, with partner Samantha Wasser, in 2015.

The South Beach Wine & Food Festival has long regarded music as part of a successful weekend. Past headliners such as KC & the Sunshine Band and Ziggy Marley have rocked the tents. This year, several events seamlessly blur the lines between music and food. As William Shakespeare said: “If music be the food of love, play on.”

The Grand Tasting Village at SOBEWFF is a veritable bacchanal of wine, spirits, and food. It spans three blocks of pristine beach along Ocean Drive. That’s about the length of four NFL football fields.

Happy Monday, Miami. The tastiest time of the year returns this week. The South Beach Wine & Food Festival (SOBEWFF) will celebrate its sweet 16 beginning Wednesday with the world’s best-known chefs, wine and spirits producers, and culinary personalities. More than 85 finger-licking events will cater to upward of 70,000 attendees.

The tastiest time of the year is back. The South Beach Wine & Food Festival (SOBEWFF) will celebrate its sweet 16 with the world’s most renowned chefs, wine and spirits producers, and culinary personalities. More than 85 finger-licking events will cater to upward of 70,000 attendees. Through SOBEWFF, you can…

Today, Miami’s Mandarin Oriental will unveil a new waterfront bar and lounge with a Peruvian twist. Designed by the hotel’s executive chef, Diego Oka, a Japanese/Peruvian toque who has spent a large part of his culinary career working with celebrity chef Gaston Acurio, the space is an ode to his and Acurio’s homeland.

Miami chef and restauranteur Ralph Pagano says his new Fort Lauderdale restaurant, Naked Crab Seafood Kitchen, has one thing no one else in the area offers: mermaids. “There’s a lot of things that make this concept unique, but I don’t think anyone else has a tiki, steakhouse, cocktail bar with a live mermaid show,” Pagano says.

Once upon a time, food was something you ate. Period. The average person couldn’t even name a chef, with the rare exception of someone like Julia Child. In case you haven’t noticed, food is trending. Nary a meal goes by without being Instagramed, everyone is a self-proclaimed foodie, and star chefs come in all flavors. Celebrities in other fields, such as singer Trisha Yearwood, have even crossed over and become food-famous.

Brunch might be the world’s best meal, but too much of a good thing — like sugar, fat, and booze — can be less than enjoyable, particularly when you have to go back to work Monday morning. That’s why Manna Life Foods’ new Fuel Good Brunch is the perfect alternative for health-conscious Miamians. The all-inclusive Saturday meal is a guilt-free way to start the weekend.

Ever wondered what a speakeasy was like during Prohibition or wanted to sample the martini Sinatra used to drink? You can at SOBEWFF’s Fort Lauderdale event, Drink. The time machine-inspired cocktail party is one of the latest to be added to the festival’s expanding Broward County lineup. It will be…

Katie Button and Vivian Howard never imagined they’d end up in the spotlight of North Carolina’s culinary revolution. But fierce determination and passion landed them there. “I come from a generation of wonderful women cooks,” Button admits. “My great-grandmother, my grandmother, and my mom were the first to do it…

For many people, pork is central to barbecue. In North Carolina and throughout the South, whole hogs are slow-roasted, pulled apart, and doused in spicy vinegar sauce. It’s often made the centerpiece of the plate, woven into baked beans, or employed to make collard greens. Yet none of it will…

Substitutions are forbidden at Scarpetta, celebrity chef/restaurateur Scott Conant’s Italian eatery. But one evening in 2010, LeBron James asked for fruit in his salad, sending the kitchen into a tizzy. “I remember a server telling me: ‘Mike, I have a weird request,'” recalls Michael Pirolo, then executive chef at the…

Andrew Zimmern has made his mark on the television world by eating things most Americans won’t. His Travel Channel show, Bizarre Foods, brought attention to the fact there’s a whole wide culinary world that ranges far beyond that of Big Gulps and burger franchises. At a time when the world,…