Hi there! This will be less verbose, but hopefully an exercise in quality not quantity :-). I got to Miami yesterday to enjoy my second visit to the SoBe Wine and Food Festival. I've been a bit busy in the last few days and have stuff to share, but this is more pressing ... so without further drivel ...
Look at Bobby Flay reppin his burger! We were on the same flight headed down and were both just happy to make it out of NYC before the snow hit. When we landed I got plenty of pictures of what the snow did at home while in flight ... it looks bad. But never mind that ... look at Bobby!
He already looks sun-kissed doesn't he? His burgers were Crunchified (meaning they had chips on them ... and that's his word, not mine. I'd throw a "tm" on it, but I can't find the symbol on my computer lol). He also had a yummy BBQ sauce on it and coleslaw. When he gave me a preview on the flight, I knew it'd be my first burger at Burger Bash ... I also felt Spike Mendelsohn's winning days may be over. Spike's won two years in a row ... I tasted his burger last night. It was gooood, but even better was his cotton candy shake ....
I had two! You push the cotton candy down and the best way I can explain the texture is ... do you ever get an iced coffee or an iced tea? Ever have too much sugar in the bottom and enjoy sipping that layer with your straw and crunching? Well, that's how it was for the cotton candy shake, but even better was the texture of the shake, it was soooo smooth. Go Spike! He didn't win though ... Iron Chef Michael Symon brought it home for the team! Sorry, no pictures of that burger because most of the night I was hangin' out with Viva Towels! Here's my booth where I gave out not burgers, but my Baklava Cups.
That's Rebecca with me. She's a student at FIU and if you didn't know the festival is a charity event, so at the end of working here she gets a grant for school. Pretty neat. A few minutes after I met Rebecca, I met her dean and promptly try to barter for straight A's in exchange for some baklava and Viva Towels. Every one was just total smiles last night. Here's my Memphis family ...
It's the Neely's crew!!! It's our 1 year anniversary lol, we first met and hung out last year at this very event and since then we've had so much fun together. That's Tony Jr., myself, Tony Neely (Pat's bro), Pat Neely and my girrrrrrl Gina. They are such great supporters and feel so much more like family than co-workers. They were on their way in to the Burger Bash and made time to stop by before going beef crazy. I took a quick walk outside the immediate area of my booth and ran into two crazy characters ...
That's John Besh and Aaron Sanchez ... two willlld and craazy guys! Totally showing my age with that SNL reference teeheehee. I just recently worked with Aaron Sanchez in right here in Miami on an upcoming episode of Chefs Vs. City. It airs soon and I'll give you a heads up when I get the air date. John Besh is just one of those chefs you like to run into ... never stuffy and always smiles. Then, I turned around and someone that I totally LOVE ... actually came by to tell me he watches Cooking for Real ...
That's Chef Pepin, he's has a product line and I've watched him on Univision and although I don't speak Spanish, I watch to learn the language and of course I'm going to watch when food is involved. Other than that ... I've just seen this happy chef around and I love a good smile. What a nice way to meet someone I watch, finding out that they watch too. Speaking of, do you remember me posting about my last visit here and running into a Pollo Tropical for the first time? Well, looks like they read the blog just like you and one of the executives came by to say hi last night at the Burger Bash. Very nice surprise ... you never know who's watching ... or reading. ;-) Ok, that's all I have today and I still ended up typing too much, eh? If you are in Miami, I'll be on NBC today from 11-12noon to showcase my Caribbean Chicken Wings I'm making for this weekend's crowds at the Grand Tasting tents. If you are here, please comment if you'd like to meet up for a drink this weekend! Until then, check out Aaron McCargo's tweets and Jacob's tweets if you want to keep up with what's going on down here!
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