Jasonhouse
March 30th, 2007, 07:29 AM
High-Profile Food Fest Coming To Don CeSar
By JEFF HOUCK
The Tampa Tribune
Published: Mar 29, 2007
http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBFICXKUZE.html
ST. PETE BEACH - Everybody who's anybody in the culinary world heads in February to the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival, a spring break orgy of the senses for 55,000 food lovers on the sand of Miami Beach.
Now the same company that organizes the South Beach event is planning a similar food and wine festival on the sand of St. Pete Beach, with the goal of raising money for charity and elevating the area's culinary profile on a national level.
Southern Wine & Spirits, the nation's largest wholesale distributor of alcohol and wine, announced Wednesday that it will hold the Tampa Bay Wine & Food Festival from May 17 to 19 at the Don CeSar Beach Resort.
The Tampa Bay festival will feature wine and food seminars, a grand tasting tent, a black-tie gala, cooking tutorials for children, a golf tournament and champagne and barbecue dinners.
And just as the Miami festival generates money for Florida International University's restaurant management program, profits from the Tampa Bay gathering will benefit The Abilities Foundation, a nonprofit organization that assists people with disabilities.
Robert Irvine, star of the Food Network series "Dinner: Impossible," will be the featured celebrity chef. Irvine is scheduled to open a restaurant in downtown St. Petersburg in November.
In place of the South Beach's glitz and excess will be an emphasis on local kitchen talent.
Bay area chefs scheduled to participate include Jeanie Pierola of Bern's Steak House & Sideberns; Dan Tederous of The Capital Grille; Tom Prichard of the Salt Rock Grill and Island Way Grill; Chris Ponte of Cafe Ponte & Tuscan Grill; and Eric Neri of the Don CeSar.
Tickets for events will range from $35 for a Saturday night beach barbecue and $40 for food-and-wine seminars to $250 for the VIP dinner and Iron Chef Challenge. The golf invitational is $1,200 per foursome. Tickets are being sold online at www.tampabaywineandfoodfestival.com.
Pierola says the festival will bring a culinary spotlight to the area.
"People don't realize the great heart and soul of cuisine that's beating on the west coast of Florida," she said.
By JEFF HOUCK
The Tampa Tribune
Published: Mar 29, 2007
http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBFICXKUZE.html
ST. PETE BEACH - Everybody who's anybody in the culinary world heads in February to the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival, a spring break orgy of the senses for 55,000 food lovers on the sand of Miami Beach.
Now the same company that organizes the South Beach event is planning a similar food and wine festival on the sand of St. Pete Beach, with the goal of raising money for charity and elevating the area's culinary profile on a national level.
Southern Wine & Spirits, the nation's largest wholesale distributor of alcohol and wine, announced Wednesday that it will hold the Tampa Bay Wine & Food Festival from May 17 to 19 at the Don CeSar Beach Resort.
The Tampa Bay festival will feature wine and food seminars, a grand tasting tent, a black-tie gala, cooking tutorials for children, a golf tournament and champagne and barbecue dinners.
And just as the Miami festival generates money for Florida International University's restaurant management program, profits from the Tampa Bay gathering will benefit The Abilities Foundation, a nonprofit organization that assists people with disabilities.
Robert Irvine, star of the Food Network series "Dinner: Impossible," will be the featured celebrity chef. Irvine is scheduled to open a restaurant in downtown St. Petersburg in November.
In place of the South Beach's glitz and excess will be an emphasis on local kitchen talent.
Bay area chefs scheduled to participate include Jeanie Pierola of Bern's Steak House & Sideberns; Dan Tederous of The Capital Grille; Tom Prichard of the Salt Rock Grill and Island Way Grill; Chris Ponte of Cafe Ponte & Tuscan Grill; and Eric Neri of the Don CeSar.
Tickets for events will range from $35 for a Saturday night beach barbecue and $40 for food-and-wine seminars to $250 for the VIP dinner and Iron Chef Challenge. The golf invitational is $1,200 per foursome. Tickets are being sold online at www.tampabaywineandfoodfestival.com.
Pierola says the festival will bring a culinary spotlight to the area.
"People don't realize the great heart and soul of cuisine that's beating on the west coast of Florida," she said.