A Gathering of Chefs at the Palm Beach Food + Wine Festival

It was like being a kid in a candy store this past weekend, as we attended the 2014 Palm Beach Food & Wine Festival. This culinary extravaganza brought together swoon-worthy food and drink items; a star-studded line-up chefs, from both near and far; food and wine enthusiasts — and a little friendly competition added to the mix.

The festivities began with two chef collaboration dinners (Sustain at PB Catch with chefs Elizabeth Falkner, Gabrielle Hamilton, Virginia Willis and Aaron Black and The First Bite at Buccan with chefs Clay Conley Anita Lo, Ken Oringer, Jonathon Sawyer and Stephen Stryjewski) and ended with a chef’s throw down at the Grand Tasting event on Sunday evening.

While the food served at this event was outrageously delicious and we were spoiled from the moment we walked in, the ability to mingle with and go behind the scenes with these culinary rockstars at the event was what rocked our world.

Our journey began at Four Seasons Palm Beach for the Chef Talks where some of our favorite chefs like Elizabeth Faulkner, Ken Oringer, Daniel Serfer, Virginia Willis and Anita Lo dished about food memories; new food trends like micro-regionalism and fermentation; online customer reviews (sorry, to them they don’t exist); what keeps them going; expanding their empires and future projects in the works. Did you know that Giorgio Rapicavoli is working on a project putting a restaurant in a park; that Elizabeth Faulkner is working on a dinner theatre play; or that Jonathon Sawyer is about to release a cookbook? Now, you have the inside scoop.

While we skipped Chillin’ & Grillin,’ we made it back for Street Food hosted by Marc Summers, where we saw some trash talking going on. For this event, chefs from the 305 went head-to-head with ones from 561.  One chef from Miami battled against a Palm Beach chef in each of the 5 categories — on a stick, taco, meatball, hot dog and fried chicken — and attendees placed their vote (a chip) next to their favorite. Now, who would take home the prize?

While there were many drool-worthy items like Timon Balloo’s Korean BBQ flap meat steak skewer with a kimchi slaw and shrimp chips; Clay Conley’s highly addictive Fried Chicken with Asian Slaw; Daniel Serfer’s Mole Brisket Tacos with street corn relish and avocado coulis; and Darryl Moiles’ comforting Italian Meatball — only one (ok, maybe two) could take home the prize.

A big shoutout to Timon Balloo from SUGARCANE raw bar grill (305) for winning the judge’s choice and the blogger’s choice (aka Carlo Frias’ choice) awards. Local Chef Clay Conley from Buccan (561) took home the voter’s choice award.

The competition continued at the Grand Tasting event at 150 Worth Ave on Sunday night — as there were more taste buds to be aroused. Local restaurants served up sumptuous bites, aiming to give the passersby a taste of what they are all about.  Some of our favorites (and those worthy of a return visit) included Shrimp ‘n Grits from Table 26, Pulled Pork Tacos from Bistro Ten Zero One, Grilled Octopus with caramelized cauliflower and meyer lemon pearls from PB Catch, Ravioli and Pumpkin Soup from Jové, Braised Short Ribs with burnt cauliflower purée from Eating House (I think we just need a reason to go back there) — do we need to stop there? Pair these up with a glass of the 2011 Archavel Ferrer Quimera, a blend of malbec, merlot, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and petite verdot and our favorite of the night — and your taste buds were going on a joy ride. The team from Jové went home with the best bite of the night.

And because all great things must come to an end, the festival ended with the annual Chef Throw Down where reigning champ Eric Grutka (Ian’s Tropical Grille battled it out against 2 opponents — Bruce Feingold (Dada in Delray Beach) and Sam Horrock (Pistache French Bistro). Each chef was able to bring 1 ingredient of their own, and then, prepared a dish using the “mystery” ingredient courtesy of Creekstone Farms — the teres major steak — for the celebrated judges, John Leland of Creekstone Farms, Food Network Sandwich King host Jeff Mauro and Cookbook author, Ted Allen.

While the competition was fierce and the judging close, Chef Eric Grutka kept his title and won for the 3rd straight year with his Hozon Rubbed Teres Major set atop creamed greens and blistered tomato and accompanied with seared pork over quinoa with curried yogurt sauce and pickled apples (yes, quite the mouthful) — and went home with a $10,000 check ($5000 for himself and $5000 for Celebrities for Kids of the Treasure Coast, his charity of choice).

And to end, we leave you with some of our favorite quotes from the events:

“If you’re not using local ingredients, you’re off the map. The term farm-to-table is trite.”   – Mike Lata, FIG

“I couldn’t get a job, so I opened up a place that I could work at.”  – Daniel Serfer, Mignonette

“Every bite of food that I take can be considered research.” – Virginia Willis