Top chefs look to cook up deals at South Beach Wine & Food Festival
NY Post
Miami’s booming restaurant scene takes center stage at this week’s South Beach Wine & Food Festival – where old favorites and up-and-coming chefs hope to cook up more than just a few meals.
The 23rd annual event, which runs Thursday through Sunday, brings together not only foodies but executives from the myriad of businesses that feed off the food industry.
“It’s kind of like the Super Bowl and spring break for chefs,” festival founder Lee Schrager told Side Dish.
“All of the agencies, book publishers and pots and pans companies come to make deals with chefs.”
Famed chef Todd English, who will return as a guest this year, remembered how his career was catapulted while taking part in one of the early festivals.
At the time, English was a rising star but little-known outside Boston where he had launched his restaurant, Olives. But a chance meeting with a representative for hotelier Barry Sternlicht led to English launching a restaurant at the St. Regis in Aspen, Colo.
