The website for the annual Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival is up and running as event organizers gear up to return February 22-25, 2024, when visitors will flock by the thousands to the giant tents on Miami Beach to eat, drink, and celebrate the festival's 23rd year. Ticket sales go live on the website at 9 a.m. on Monday, November 6.
Widely recognized as America’s favorite gourmet gathering on the sand, the four-day festival will gather Food Network personalities, Grammy-winning musicians, and more than 500 chefs and wines-and-spirits producers for walk-around tastings, intimate dinners, late-night parties, brunches, lunches, master classes, wine seminars, and more. Proceeds from the Festival benefit the Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management at Florida International University (FIU).
The festival is best known for its signature events like the Grand Tasting Village, the Burger Bash (this year hosted by Rachael Ray), and a gala tribute dinner, which this year honors Massimo Bottura and Luca Garavoglia (Rachael Ray will emcee).
Each year also brings new events — and a few surprises.
The festival's unique combination of old and new is the key to success, SOBEWFF founder Lee Brian Schrager tells New Times, adding that he stays alert for new trends and talent to ensure no one ever gets bored.
"I want to be motivated and excited about what we're doing," Schrager says. "If I'm happy, then it shows."
The annual SOBEWFF returns with a number of new events when it hits the sands of South Beach February 22-25, 2024.
South Beach Wine & Food Festival photo
Other new events this year include a handful of Friday happenings: a FoodieCon happy hour kickoff; The Art of Punch Room, an exclusive one-night-only pop-up of the sophisticated, speakeasy-inspired cocktail bar led by Tampa Edition Punch Room director Tural Hasanov; and Noche Cubana, a dinner hosted by Miami chef Michelle Bernstein and her husband, David Martinez, alongside Chat Chow founder Gio Gutierrez.
Saturday brings an Israeli Breakfast Master Class with chef Sam Gorenstein of Abbalé Telavivian Kitchen; a Philly Cheesesteak Demo & Dine with Frankie Olivieri, owner of Pat's King of Steaks in South Philadelphia; a Cuban Cooking Master Class with Mika Leon of Caja Caliente; and A Feast of Local Flavors tasting experience featuring South Florida's bounty of chefs and ingredients.
New options on the festival's final day include beer, cheesecake, and empanada-making master classes; a Champagne and dim sum brunch hosted by Molly Yeh (host of Food Network's Girl Meets Farm; and a Bubbles Brunch with Katie Lee and Jeff Mauro (hosts of Food Network's The Kitchen) and celebrity chef Geoffrey Zakarian.
South Beach Wine & Food Festival. Thursday, February 22, through Sunday, February 25, 2024, at various locations; sobewff.org. Capital One presale begins at 9 a.m. on October 30; general ticket sales open at 9 a.m. on November 6.
