Tripping Animals and Gorilla City Meats Team Up for Skip the Line Food and Drink Festival

Imagine a food festival where there are no lines, vendors never run out of food, and the drinks are free-flowing.

Imagine no more: That's the idea behind a new South Florida event dubbed "Skip The Line," organized by Tripping Animals Brewing.

The inaugural food and drink festival is set to take place Sunday, September 5, from 2 to 6 p.m., featuring more than a dozen Miami-based food vendors alongside more than a dozen Florida breweries.

Line-free food and drink isn't the biggest selling point for this event, however. Rather, the creators of this all-new food and beverage festival are touting it as among the first of its kind to be both organized and hosted by an independent craft brewery.

Taking the contemporary "all you can eat and drink" concept, Skip the Line will be offered in an open forum format, says Tripping Animals cofounder Ignacio Montenegro — allowing guests to walk up and grab unlimited prepared samplings from each chef while tasting a variety of local craft brews.

The festival will showcase some of Miami’s top chefs, ranging from critically acclaimed names and South Beach Wine & Food Festival award winners to the city’s hottest emerging chefs.

Chef/owner Julian Uribe of Gorilla City Meats and Sandwiches at Tripping Animals says the event was organized to highlight the best of artisan food and craft beer — two segments of the food and beverage industry that continue to rise to the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"A lot of the inspiration for this food festival was born out of my experience in the hospitality industry here in Miami and all the incredible friends I have made along my journey. It weighed on me how lucky I was to have a permanent kitchen inside Tripping Animals, while some of my colleagues had to adapt to the ephemerality of pop-ups in fear of not being able to share their cuisine with the community," Uribe says.

To that end, he and Montenegro combined forces to create an event that would celebrate chefs and brewers.

"The idea was to curate a single platform that would spotlight all of these extraordinary chefs — from all walks of life — under one roof for the perfect marriage of food and beer," Uribe says.

Featured chefs include Alex Meyer and Luchiana Giangrandi of Boia De; Michael Beltran from Ariete and Chug's Diner; Carlos Carreras and Nayra Serrano from Masa Craft; Giovanni Fesser of Pastelito Papi; Steve Santana from Taquiza; Eduardo Lara from Wolf of Tacos; Teodoro Armas from Ted's Burgers; Victoriano Hernandez of Haochi; Harold Ruiz of Peacock Ramen; Michael Hernandez from Hungry Yokai; Alissa and Jeremy Frice from Frice Ice Cream; and Michael Ortiz of JoJo Tea.

Participating breweries include a number of local breweries in addition to several out-of-area breweries like Arkane Aleworks, Calusa Brewing, Green Bench Brewing Company, and Corporate Ladder Brewing Company.

"Skip the Line is a sort of homage to all the love, support, and passion we’ve been feeling from all the incredibly talented people that have surrounded us this last year," Montenegro sums up. "The Tripping Animals team and Gorilla City wanted to come together to curate a lasting experience for the community that would marry the two loves we have right now."

Tickets for Skip the Line are on sale, priced at $115 to $125 per person (21 and older only), which includes admission plus unlimited food and beer samples.

Tripping Animals Brewing Co. 2685 NW 105th Ave., Doral; Sunday, September 5, from 2 to 6 p.m.; 305-646-1339; trippinganimals.com. Tickets cost $115 to $125.