The snow may be falling here in NYC, but down in Miami the sun is shining and the star chefs are lining up for the day one of the South Beach Food and Wine Festival (also known as the SBWFF, or simply SOBE '10). While the big Burger Bash is slated for later tonight, there's already been plenty of excitement today with the arrival of all of the chefs and food world celebs. Here's a few dispatches from Eater Miami of what we missed down in SoBe today:
ARRIVALS - Grand poobah Lee Schrager tells Eater Miami that in spite of the bad weather up North the chefs are, indeed, making their way in: "Our travel department is crazed," he says. "We're working hard to reroute many, but so far, so good." [Eater Miami]
KICKOFF-- Not everyone was in love with the Kitchen Aid dinner at Tap Tap last night, featuring a group of top notch chefs -- including Morimoto, Boulud, Wessel, Garces --cooking to benefit Haitian relief efforts. Seems that former Wachovia Bank president turned Miami city manager Carlos Migoya just didn't think it was up to his standards. Says our snitch, "He left in a huff because he didn't like his seat. He thought the place wasn't his 'quality'. He was a real primadonna. When he left, he had a snarl on his face." [Eater Miami]
@FSCOUT -- One of the many food-world celebs having problems getting down to SOBE was none other than Food & Wine's Dana Cowin . From her twitter feed: "At JFK, trying to beat storm + get to #sobe. Now my best case: sleeping in Orlando 2nite, cnctng to Miami in am. Appropriate dwarf: doozy." [Eater Miami]
BURGERBASH-- While the The Burger Bash -- easily one of the most hotly anticipated events of the fest -- isn't until later tonight, the official line up of chefs and burgers was announcedearlier today [Eater Miami]
We'll have much, much more from the shores of SOBE in the days to come. Stay Tuned to Eater NY, Eater Miami and Eater National for more from the center of the action.
·All SOBE '10 Coverage On Eater [-ENY-]