The South Beach Wine & Food Festival (SOBEWFF) returns to Miami Feb. 23-26, featuring more than 100 new and established events that are sure to keep festivalgoers both well fed and entertained.
Breathing life into the 22nd annual showcase are hundreds of chefs, wine and spirits producers, and Grammy award-winning artists. Events are scheduled throughout South Florida, from the quintessential North Venue and Grand Tasting Village to Overtown, Wynwood, Hallandale Beach and everywhere in between, with tastings, parties, wine seminars, master classes and more.
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Lee Brian Schrager, SOBEWFF Founder
Festival founder Lee Brian Schrager, of Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, says SOBEWFF 2023 will be “one of the most inclusive and fun educational events” around.
“I think of the festival as a child that’s really grown up, and I think I’m happy to see where my child is today – 22 years later – and the opportunities that it’s offered to so many great new chefs along the way, to watch them become superstars, and to talk about the opportunities that supported students who go to the Chaplin school,” he said.
All net proceeds from the festival benefit students at Florida International University’s (FIU) Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management. It’s raised more than $34 million for FIU students as part of its objective to develop future leaders in the hospitality industry.
New Experiences & Old Favorites
(Courtesy of SOBEWFF)
The 2022 Oyster Bash event, which will be hosted this year by Tyler Florence.
New at SOBEWFF this year is FoodieCon at Loews Miami Beach Hotel, which Schrager says will bring in the country’s top 15 social media influencers to show off their culinary skills.
Also debuting is Smorgasburg After Dark, a late-night party with more than 60 food and drink vendors and a performance by DJ Rev. Run. Some participating local restaurants include Drinking Pig BBQ, The Lazy Oyster, Tio Paella and Santo Dulce.
Old crowd favorites like Burger Bash, the Goya Foods’ Grand Tasting Village and Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives Live will return.
(Courtesy of SOBEWFF)
Guy Fieri at his first annual Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives Live event at the 2022 South Beach Wine & Food Festival.
For those looking to learn the ways of the jedi, the festival is offering a dynamic mix of wine seminars and master classes. Wine aficionados have a variety of Wine Spectator Wine Seminars to choose from. Cooking lovers can choose from thirteen class options to learn new recipes from croqueta-making with connoisseurs Eileen and Jonathan Andrade to sushi-making at Gekkō Miami, curated by David Grutman, and more.
A series of Intimate Dinners with such chefs as Lindsay Autry, Antonio Bachour, Gabriela Cámara, Brad Kilgore and Tiffany Derry is also on tap.
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Miami’s own Monica “Mika” Leon will showcase her Cuban burger, Frita Cubana, at SOBEWFF’s “Burger Bash.”
This year’s festivities will showcase the talent and diversity of Miami’s local cuisine, chefs and foodie celebrities, says Schrager, with events like The Cookout, hosted by JJ Johnson and pandemic-era darling DJ D-Nice; Overtown EatUp!, hosted by Marcus Samuelsson and Amaris Jones; Chicken Coupe, hosted by Michelle Bernstein; and a Jazz Brunch on Sunday hosted by Mashama Bailey, whom Schrager says is probably one of the greatest Black female chefs in the country today.
“We want the festival to look like the world does, diverse,” he stated.
Representation on the Menu
Samuelsson’s Overtown EatUp! builds on New York’s Harlem EatUp! and will take place at his restaurant Red Rooster Overtown, a 2022 Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand winner. Proceeds from the event are being set aside for scholarships for local students.
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Cezar Zapata, Phuc Yea Chef & Owner
Cezar Zapata, chef-owner of renowned restaurant Phuc Yea in midtown, will bring his Vietnamese-style fried chicken to the Chicken Coupe event. The semifinalist of Tom Colicchio and Gordon Ramsay’s “Best New Restaurant” show says he loves being surrounded by new chefs from all around the country.
“It’s a great opportunity to be able to be part of such a big festival that does so much for our culinary industry, and also for the FIU students,” said Zapata. “It’s an honor to be part of it.”
And Miami’s own Monica “Mika” Leon will showcase her internet-famous Cuban burger, Frita Cubana, at the festival.
(Courtesy of SOBEWFF)
Food Network chef Lorena Garcia working with her team at the 2022 South Beach Wine & Food Festival.
Leon has come a long way since starting Mika Bites in her mother’s garage. She later opened Caja Caliente, which serves Cuban tacos, as a food truck in 2016, and as her first brick-and-mortar eatery in 2019. Leon has appeared on Food Network’s “Guy’s Grocery Store Games,” “Chopped,” “Beat Bobby Flay” and more.
“It’s gonna be nice to represent, not only as a Cuban but as a female chef,” she said. “What I’m most proud of is not just being able to represent the Cuban community, but also being an example and represent for entrepreneurs and people that are the underdog.”
Foodie World Stars
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This year’s Tacos & Tequila event, presented by Tequila Cazadores, will feature more than 25 chefs and will be hosted by “Machete” star Danny Trejo.
Chef, restaurateur, author and longtime Food Network star Antonia Lofaso will be bringing her talent to SOBEWFF for the second time.
Her three restaurants – Black Market Liquor Bar, Scopa Italian Roots and DAMA – have completely different concepts and styles as they portray the “eclectic mix of people” in Los Angeles and her experiences traveling around the world. One of biggest inspirations and drives is her 22-year-old daughter Xea, whom Lofaso says she always tried to teach that “you can be a mom and murder on the entrepreneur scene as well.”
Her special dinner with Marc Murphy and Tristen Epps will be unique, as it will cater to the strengths of each individual chef. She’s also one of the chefs cooking for the Tribute Dinner honoring Alex Guarnaschelli and Alexandre Ricard, which will be hosted by Flay.
(Courtesy of SOBEWFF)
The 2022 Chicken Coupe Design District event. This year’s ode to fried chicken and Champagne will feature Michelle Bernstein, Cesar Zapata and other renowned chefs.
“We’re so excited about the tribute dinner,” Lofaso exclaimed, mentioning that Guarnaschelli is a good friend and that all the chefs participating have put together a flash mob dance for her. “We as chefs love to just be rowdy and wild and have a good time.”
To cap off the weekend in style, join David Burtka and Neil Patrick Harris for a Drag Brunch at the North Beach Bandshell starring Miami’s Athena Dion and the queens from the R House Wynwood. Following brunch, SOBEWFF will host its first-ever Tea Dance and Drag Show, featuring appearances by Thelma Houston, a legend of Motown music, and Symone, winner of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” Season 13.
With more events, chefs and sommeliers than ever, SOBEWFF 2023 is sure to satisfy everyone’s palate.
For more information or to purchase tickets, visit SOBEWFF.org.
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(Courtesy of SOBEWFF)
Miami’s Athena Dion hyping up the crowd at 2022’s Drag Brunch.
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Signature foods from the 2022 Asian Night Market, to be presented this year at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel.