The South Beach Seafood Festival 2023 Is Almost Here! Posted on September 25, 2023 by Sarah Elles Boggs Calling all pescatarians!! This is your moment! We may make light of this upcoming week, but it is quite a big deal. I also have my moments as a pescatarian, so I am here to rejoice in the week, not to make any trouble. I just want to eat some delicious and fresh ceviche and scallops and be happy. We are all kind of in that space, I think. Stone crab season is looming upon us again and we are not complaining. In order to properly welcome the season, Miami Beach has their yearly South Beach Seafood Week that is finalized by a weekend-long festival that celebrates everything that comes out of the sea… and whoa! What a menu the sea offers to a place like Miami Beach! South Beach Seafood Festival 2023 Scallops Hosted by Herradura and the City of Miami Beach, the festival carries on for four blocks along the sand. There will be over 30 restaurant and bar stations where you can get anything from a sample of ceviche to a mojito or pisco sour. Milam’s Market is planning a live demonstration that is sure to entice foodies under the cover of a tent to shield them from the Miami Beach sun. I have a feeling that when this is over, there will be a lot more at-home ceviche attempts. I have tried already and will try again (haha). But within the festival, professionals are available to let you know what to do and what not to do with your seafood cooking. They are also available to let you know where to go in order to get a fresh fish meal that you do not have to go cook. South Beach Seafood Festival 2023 Lobster Pasta The Seafood Festival To kick off the week, South Beach’s iconic Joe’s Stone Crab will host “An Evening at Joe’s.” Chef Andre Bienvenue has prepared a 5-course meal that highlights stone crabs. This is a ticketed event with very limited availability. Tickets are $500 and will be among the first to sell out. On Thursday, October 19, Goya is hosting “Cabs, Slabs and Crabs” at the Kimpton Surfcomber. Six of Miami Beach’s best chefs are all preparing their version of traditional Surf and Turf dishes, paired with wines and spirits and each chef bringing an international flare to the traditional meal. Tickets are $250. October 20 is going to bring the VIP Chef Showdown at Lummus Park. Sixteen chefs are going to battle through 8 competitions in what the Travel Channel calls the best seafood competition in the United States. The champion is chosen by event guests. Tickets are $160 for this competition. Saturday is the main event, with over 15,000 “seafoodies” descending upon Lummus Park to try bites from some of South Florida’s best restaurants. Expect to see Ella’s Oyster Bar, A Fish Called Avalon, RED South Beach, Pubbelly Susi and more. General admission tickets are $60 and VIP starts at $160. Multi-day passes and additional VIP options are also available via the SoBe Seafood Festival 2023 Eventbrite ticketing page. Photo Credit: Facebook/South Beach Seafood Festival
10th Annual South Beach Seafood Festival Is This Weekend! Posted on October 17, 2022October 21, 2022 by Sarah Elles Boggs 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!