SOBE: Hospitality hosts inaugural dinner for wine and food festival

Image by Fast Forward Event Productions, courtesy of Creative Commons

Alex Blencowe/Staff Writer

The Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management will host a dinner to start of the annual South Beach Wine and Food Festival, with Martha Stewart as a special guest, this year.

On Wednesday, Feb. 19, the South Beach Wine and Food Festival week kicks off with an inaugural dinner commemorating the naming of the Wine Spectator Restaurant Management Lab and the Mel Dick Wine Tower.

Mel Dick, senior vice president and president of the wine division of Southern Wine and Spirits, has been a supporter of the Chaplin school since 1997.

He will be among the 120 esteemed guests at the event, along with members of the Chaplin family, members of the university’s board of trustees, and others who have sponsored the Restaurant Management Lab through an abundant amount of donations and funds from the South Beach Wine and Food Festival.

“It’s a kickoff, but it’s also an event to put the new facilities on display and to showcase the Chaplin School,” said Associate Dean of Facilities and Operations of the Chaplin school, Mohammad Qureshi.

“The idea is to get the word out about the new lab and to recognize the sponsors who have made it a reality.”

World-renowned business magnate, writer and television icon, Martha Stewart, will be the mistress of ceremonies at the event, which will feature a reception and dinner with dishes made by star chefs from around the country.

A few of the notable chefs who will be attending the invite-only event are Michelle Bernstein presenting Croquetas with Fig Jam; Allen Susser presenting a Watermelon Bacon and Goat Cheese Brûlée; Mark Militello presenting Charcoaled Spanish Octopus with Za’tar and Pimento; Norman Van Aken presenting Caramelized Plantain Soup with Smokey Ham and Sour Cream; Hedy Goldsmith presenting a Meyer Lemon Cremeaux; as well as Cindy Hutson presenting a Caribbean Breadfruit Fish Taco.

The Restaurant Management Lab is a fully functioning restaurant and kitchen with a built in brewery. It also has served as a workshop for Chaplin students to learn everything from table placement to running a full house, to management and operations in a clean and professional environment.

“Wine Spectator is a well-respected institution,” said attendee Professor Judith Williams, director of the Student Culinary Team, in an email.  “I’m thrilled that we have the opportunity to work in a state of the art teaching facility that bears their name.”

Williams says she is excited to work one-on-one with incredible local chefs whom she has greatly admired at the Inaugural Dinner and at SOBE Wine and Food Festival.

This year’s South Beach Wine and Food Festival will feature more than 70 different events exposing students and faculty to the South Beach scene.

Events like this one provides hospitality students with the opportunity to display what they have learned in front of hundreds of attendees, master chefs, restaurant owners and business managers coming in from around the world.

“I love that the students have this fantastic opportunity to gain hands on management experience running the South Beach Wine and Food Festival,” Williams said.

“It’s a very exciting time for all of us and we’re happy to be able to participate.”