The South Beach Wine & Food Festival (a.k.a. spring break for the restaurant world) wrapped up last night after four days and nights of boozing, barbecuing, burger-ing, and all kinds of fan-on-celeb-chef action. Festival organizer Lee Schrager once again made a deal with the devil for almost perfect weather (save for some intense Saturday night wind gusts), more chefs than ever from a wider swath of cities than ever before made the trip down, and Guy Fieri was, as per his contract, found at every event swarmed by fans and cameras. Ahead, some photos and standouts:
· For the third year in a row Food Network star Michael Symon won the Burger Bash's popular vote for a burger topped with even more meat. Some did not approve. See the full slideshow of what went down here.
· Chef Michael White is so committed to his fans (and Lee Schrager) that when he missed his flight from JFK, he went over to the Jet Blue terminal and bought a one way ticket down to Miami—for $1500—to make it there on time.
· The best event of the festival by far was a sneak peek of the new Marlins' stadium, where guests got to be the first members of the public to walk the field, sit in the dug-out, witness the home plate aquarium, and generally take in its gloriousness.
· The stadium was another great opportunity for taking in chef Scott Conant's new hipster beard.
· After the Bash and the Marlins' stadium sneak peek, the event to attend was The Q (fka Bubbles & BBQ), that is if you couldn't get into the Knicks/Heat game. See it in all its meaty beachy sweatiness (complete with Al Roker cameo) here on Eater Miami.
· The Miami local spots that had the chefs and festival visitors abuzz: Yardbird, Jeff McInnis' southern soul food restaurant and bourbon mecca, and Pubbelly Sushi, a primo place for spotting chefs throughout the weekend. Also in heavy rotation: Andrew Carmellini's new version of The Dutch at the W (where we spotted Sean Penn on Saturday night), weird and wild rooftop restaurant Juvia at the coolest parking garage ever built, and of course Michael's Genuine Food and Drink and Sra Martinez. David's was the choice hangover breakfast option.
· The late night go-tos were The Deuce (the smokey dive bar that is a mandatory stop for anyone with any amount of street cred), and The Broken Shaker pop-up cocktail bar, located in the back of a hotel that's about to get a major overhaul. As Kate Krader aptly noted, if a bomb took the place out in the wee hours of Saturday morning, it would have been a major devastation to the country's culinary scene.
· Of course the best party of the whole weekend came at the very beginning, when we announced the launch of our new talent search Young Guns at the Hotel Victor. Get ready to anoint a new generation of industry stars.
· Want more? There are some videos here and here, photos galore here, and coverage from the local blogs here.