By now, you've probably seen just about every food and behind-the-scenes photo from the South Beach Wine & Food Festival, but there is one thing you haven't seen yet: some of the craziest moments from our time in South Florida. Presenting . . . the biggest ZOMG moments from this year's festival. Go ahead — you know you want to.
If you find yourself feeling a little bit left out because you didn't get to party in Miami with your favorite chefs and culinary personalities, don't worry. YumSugar has got your back. We have put together the ultimate 2012 SOBEWFF experience, complete with all the events we attended and the awesome people we had a chance to meet and learn from. After clicking through these photos, you'll be able to chat with your friends about how hilarious Bobby Flay was after he chugged his second mojito and how buttery and amazing stone crab really is. It'll be like you were there with us! And don't worry. We'll obviously keep your secret . . .
The South Beach Wine and Food Festival offered some of our favorite people in the food world the chance to kick back, drink mojitos, and hang out with one another. Even though we were at a food event, the wine and cocktails part seemed to be the first thing on everybody's mind. From Bobby Flay chugging his two huge drinks on stage to Michael Chiarello doing a bit of a pole dance, click through to see who we spotted.
Despite his drunken antics at SOBEFest, Bobby Flay still managed to provide us with some useful tips on frying chicken, a dish we've always wanted to tackle at home but have frankly been a bit scared to try.
Thanks to the queen of Southern cuisine's diabetes drama, lowcountry staples like fried chicken might have gotten a bit of a bad rap lately, but Flay's not hearing any of it. "This whole thing about baking fried chicken: why?" he asked the audience. "Everything in moderation, yeah — but you have to go all the way."
According to the chef, there are three keys to good fried chicken: crisp texture, a golden brown color, and a just-cooked interior. Learn Bobby's best bird-battering and frying tips to master these three aspects when you read on ahead.
We've seen a lot of Bobby Flay cooking demos throughout the years, but over the weekend in South Beach, Flay was the funniest we'd seen yet.
"Wow, I'm wasted," the Food Network chef admitted to the crowd, after pounding down two giant mojitos in a row. The inebriated audience only encouraged him to drink more. For the most entertaining of Bobby's bytes, keep on reading.
Memorable drinks and bites aren't the only things at play inside the South Beach Wine and Food Festival tents — the Grand Tasting Village also holds an impressive lineup of cooking demonstrations from celebrity chefs and culinary personalities.
To my surprise, one of the most captivating (and entertaining) cooking demos came from Bravo's Bethenny Frankel. Although the Skinnygirl cocktails magnate was on hand to demonstrate pea guacamole and sangria, she really just wound up doling out zinger after zinger about sex and the Bravo network.
In between laughs, we did learn one great kitchen tip from her — how to make sangria even classier and more delicious. While prepping sangria, Bethenny swapped her ice for a bag of frozen mixed berries, a move she called cost-effective. We call it brilliant!
If you're wondering what we ate in South Beach, the real question is: what didn't we eat in South Beach? From spice-rubbed ribs to stone crabs and tuna tataki to Côtes du Rhône wines, we had everything — but we wanted to share with you what was truly spectacular under the tents in the Grand Tasting Village.
It's no secret here at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival that Guy Fieri's demo is hands down the most highly anticipated cooking demo of the festival. After all, last year's saw fanatical crowds and the onslaught of a slurricane machine.
While Guy's demo this year was a feat not to be missed, perhaps even more entertaining was the presence of a Guy Fieri impostor who we caught sight of while waiting for Guy's demo to begin. We thought he was the man of the hour himself from afar, with the shirt, the goatee, the spiky platinum tips, and the sunglasses — but quickly realized this man wasn't rocking the same sun glow that, hours before, was pouring us cups of homemade jungle juice at the SOBE afterparty.
It's no secret that Guy Fieri has impostors, but this one had no fear of showing up his favorite celebrity chef. Where did he turn up, one might wonder? Well, everywhere: in the tents tasting off-the-hook food, chatting it up with other festival-goers, and waiting for his idol to take center stage. Keep clicking to see some of the places we spotted Guy Fieri's impersonator.
This year, for the first time, Rachael Ray crowned a Burger Bun King of South Beach Wine and Food Festival. She took some time at the end of her demonstration in the village to bring some of her friends and colleagues on stage. We're not sure if the crowd was prepared for what followed. The audience actually got to pick which chef had the best buns. But we're not so sure she meant burger buns! Click through to find out who the lucky winner was.
