10th Annual South Beach Seafood Festival Is This Weekend!

 
Polish your palates, Miami area foodies! The swanky South Beach Seafood Festival is back this weekend, this year being the 10th year anniversary of the weekend of taste-testing and sipping on the beach. This is one of the most highly anticipated events of the year and marks both the beginning of Stone Crab Season as well as the high season, where Miami’s beautiful climate attracts those from colder areas who are searching for a respite from the gloom of winter.

As this is the 10th year of the Seafood Festival, special programming has been added to the 4-day blowout. At the end of the weekend, one lucky chef will be awarded a $10,000 prize for his or her talents, along with various musical guests, celebrity sightings and plenty to taste and sip. In previous years, the festival has been described by USA TODAY as one of the “Top 5 Specialty Festivals in The Country.” Forbes has touted it as one of the “Top 5 Things to Do This Fall,” and The Travel Channel named the South Beach Seafood Festival as the “Best Seafood Festival in the US.”

The programming this year is comprised of 4 separate ticketed events that go on throughout the week. On Wednesday, October 19, foodies can attend “An Evening at Joe’s Stone Crab.” I should correct myself on this one. Only foodies who already have tickets for this event will be able to attend, as it has been sold out since the early summer. This presentation will showcase 5 courses of Executive Chef Andre Bienvenue’s cuisine paired with fine wines that are curated by master sommeliers.

Thursday’s event is hosted by GOYA Foods and is being referred to as “Crabs, Slabs & Cabs.” This installment of the festival will highlight ‘Surf n’ Turf’ reimagined by some of South Florida’s leading chefs. We expect to see big names including chefs José Mendín from Pubbelly Sushi, Chef Danny Ganem from Fiola Miami, Sean Brasel from Meat Market and a wild card chef. This dinner will also be a sold-out event, so if you can get your hands on some tickets, do not hesitate.

Friday evening is the grand finale, with 16 of Miami’s top chefs for eight competitive seafood rounds during the “Chef Showdown”. At the end of it all, the chef with the most points of the night will earn the grand prize of $10,000.

After the series of nightly events, Saturday brings us to a beach party, considered the main celebration of the weekend. This is an all-day affair showcasing pop-up cafes by popular South Florida restaurants, curated menus by the top chefs, complimentary open bar stations, live musical performances, interactive experiences and nothing but fun, food and bubbly.

“It’s a momentous 10-year celebration for the South Beach Seafood Festival, and we are grateful for the opportunity to continue to support and shine a spotlight on South Florida’s talented chefs and restaurant community every year,” said Valerie Roy, Director of Marketing and Client Strategy at CI Management, the team behind the South Beach Seafood Festival. “We are amplifying our programming and doing things in a more significant way for year #10 to celebrate the heart of what makes South Florida a not-to-be-missed culinary destination, highlighting local culinary talent in a unique manner, adding a $10,000 prize for one lucky chef champ of our Chef Showdown event, as well as bringing in some amazing entertainment to ensure this is our best festival yet.”

We will see you there!