The fourth annual South Beach Seafood Week is back to begin the stone crab season in style. With three times the food, three times the experience, and only one-third the wait, get ready for the ultimate seafood experience featuring luxury dining on the sands of South Beach.
The main event, South Beach Seafood Festival, brought to you by Kendall Jackson, will hit the beach at Seventh Street and Ocean Drive on Saturday, Oct. 22, from noon to 7 p.m., with an extension exclusive to VIP Hospitality Village guests until 11 p.m. This year’s event will be presented by Jack Daniels, Breakthru Beverage, Goya Foods and Celebrity Cruises, and hosted by Coca-Cola.
The 2016 restaurants will pop up café’s for guests to enjoy 60-plus of the best seafood menu items available in South Florida. The list of restaurants include Joe’s Stone Crabs, Naked Taco, Red, the Steakhouse, CJ’s Crab Shack, Drunken Dragon, A Fish Called Avalon, Naiyara, Poseidon, Toro Toro, Trulucks, Papa’s Raw Bar, Midtown Oyster Bar, Café Avanti, CIBO Wine Bar, Naked Crab, The Avenue, and Whole Foods Market.
Festival ticket prices start at $35 and include complimentary bars throughout the festival grounds. Guests can listen to music at the various music stages, including the Jack Daniel’s Beach Club, sip on refreshing wine or a few cocktails, enjoy chef and mixology demos in the Whole Foods Market, and spend the day trying all the delicious menu items from these luxury dining establishments, who keep their menu prices affordable between $5-$8, just for the Sobe Seafood day.
Get ready for stone crabs, stone crabs, and more stone crabs, along with lobster tempura skewers, mahi sliders, scallop BLTs, oysters, shrimp tacos, lobster roll waffle cones, crab cakes in a shell, grilled octopus, shrimp parmesan, surf ‘n’ turf filet and lobster, and more. VIP tickets are $150 and include food vouchers, access to the VIP Hospitality Village, private samplings, and so much more. Event is open to the public, but guests must be 21 or older to consume alcohol.
South Beach Seafood Week benefits Community Initiatives Foundation (CI Foundation), and the annual “Eat Smart” program, fulfilling the perfect balance between youth nutrition and childhood development by providing healthy weekend meals and nutritional guidance to Miami Beach youth.
Ahead of Saturday’s festival, there’s loads of fun for the culinary inclined:
• Wednesday, Oct/ 19, 6-10 p.m., Goya’s Cooking & Cocktails, hosted by Herradura and Meat Market, featuring a luxurious six-course tapas-style dining experience at Meat Market with cuisine by Chef Sean Brasel and Goya’s Chef Fernando Desa paired with learning the art of the perfect garnish by the team at Herradura.
• Thursday, Oct. 20, 6-10 p.m., An Evening at Joe’s Stone Crab, presenting La Crema, featuring a four-course private wine pairing dinner experience by Chef Andre Bienvenu and wine education from Jackson Family Winery’s Master Sommeliers, Thomas Price and Larry O’Brien.
• Friday, Oct. 21, 7-11 p.m., Chef Showdown, brought to you by Matanzas Creek Winery, and presented by Goya, Herradura, and Celebrity Cruises. This is the ultimate battle of all battles showcasing the best in Miami’s culinary scene at Ninth and Ocean Drive in Goya’s Culinary Pavilion. Twelve chefs get paired head to head creating six of the ultimate seafood battles. Chefs from each battle will take the showcase kitchen stage, where media guests will judge each showdown.
The deciding factor are the guests as they visit each restaurant sampling station around the village and vote to decide the newest six champions of the Chef Showdown.
Reigning champions defending their titles are Chef Andre and Tyler Bienvenue of Joe’s Stone Crab in Battle Lobster, Peter Vauthy of Red, the Steakhouse in Battle Surf ‘N Turf, Chef Dustin Atoigue of Mondrian South Beach in Battle Shrimp, Chef Xavier Torres of Drunken Dragon in Battle Tuna, and Chef Bernie Matz of Bodega South Beach in Battle Taco. The newest battle will be Battle Fish along with an all new Herradura Cocktail Showdown, hosted inside Casa Herradura, featuring competing top bartenders in South Florida. The 2016 Battles will be announced in September on @sobeseafoodfest.
Tickets can be purchased at www.sobeseafoodfest.com with additional information found on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter @sobeseafoodfest.
