By Eric Newill
Portrait by George Kamper
The South Beach Wine & Food Festival has always gathered its ingredients from around the country, mixing the best of Miami with a bit of the Bay Area, a pinch of Manhattan and a sprinkling of Savannah. This year, however, the internationally acclaimed event is sourcing locally, inaugurating its first Broward County dinner at S3 restaurant.
“We’d used Broward chefs before, but after going north as far as Turnberry and south to Little Palm Island, we realized we should expand into Fort Lauderdale,” says festival founder Lee Brian Schrager, who has partnered with S3’s Tim Petrillo to shine a spotlight on the county’s culinary talent.
“We’re very excited because this is a national festival that attracts attention and visitors from all over the country,” says Petrillo, co-founder of The Restaurant People, whose lengthy string of successful eateries also includes Tarpon Bend, YOLO and Fork & Balls. A graduate of Florida International University, he is particularly pleased that SOBEWFF benefits FIU’s Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management, having donated more than $20 million over the years.
The menu for the S3 event on February 20 will be a collaboration between The Restaurant People’s chefs Peter Boulukos and Chris Miracolo and Food Network personality Amanda Freitag, who has cooked at many of New York’s signature venues and now operates the iconic Empire Diner in Chelsea.
Petrillo will also serve as a “team captain” for a newly reinvigorated Grand Tasting Village—the festival’s signature event on the sands of South Beach—for which he’ll invite up to eight Broward restaurants to show off their gustatory flair. This inclusion in one of the food world’s showcases reflects an evolving maturity in the kitchens of Fort Lauderdale and its neighboring towns.
“Our dining scene has come a long way,” Petrillo says. “We take a lot of cues from what is happening in Miami. And though the mood here is a bit different, more hometown, our guests are more educated, so we’re able to push the envelope. In the last three years, the Broward demographic has changed dramatically.”
Schrager agrees. “Clearly, Fort Lauderdale has as many great restaurants, percentage-wise, as any other city. There’s great talent here, and we’re going to highlight that.” Additionally, he says, many festival attendees are Broward residents: “It’s a big consumer demographic for us, and next year for our 15th anniversary, we’re hoping to produce a signature event right on Fort Lauderdale beach across from Tim’s restaurant.”
At the upcoming SOBEWFF—February 19-22—expect more “small, intimate dinners,” says Schrager, who also serves as vice president of corporate communications and national events at Southern Wine & Spirits of America, Inc. Additional events include the first-ever Tacos After Dark party and a new iteration of the audience-favorite barbecue bash, Meatopia: The Q Revolution. “You’ll see your favorite chefs coming back in addition to new ones,” he says. “Keeping it fresh is as important for my team as it is for the consumer.”
Get Fired Up for SOBEWFF
More than 75 food- and wine-related events in four days
Celebrity Chefs: Emeril Lagasse, Bobby Flay, José Andrés, Candace Nelson,
Rachael Ray, Marcus Samuelsson, Guy Fieri and more
20+ intimate dinner experiences
Grand Tasting Village highlighting a group of South Florida’s top-tier culinary talents
For tickets, visit sobefest.com
Originally appeared in the Winter 2014 issue.
