For the festival’s signature Retro Feast Dinner event on Thursday, February 19th at The Traymore Restaurant and Bar, Executive Chef Jonathan Lane was joined by fellow celebrity chefs Ben Ford(son of Harrison Ford and founder of Ford’s Filling Station in L.A) and James Beard award-winning Chef Ashley Christensen from North Carolina (Poole’s Downtown Diner, Beasley’s Chicken + Honey, Chuck’s), for an intimate four-course dinner during which a dish from the set menu was prepared by each chef in the kitchen. During this unique culinary collaboration, ticket holders enjoyed an appetizer of red mustard greens with coal-roasted beets, developed by Chef Christensen; seared Arctic Char presented by Chef Lane and bacon-wrapped quail presented by Chef Ford. The Traymore’s Executive Pastry Chef, Emanuel Alves, impressed attendees with his most popular dessert, the passion fruit cannelloni to finish.
During Wine Spectator’s Best of the Best on Friday, February 20th, Chef Lane and The Traymore Restaurant and Bar showcased a premium signature dish to an attendance of two thousand people at The Fontainebleau Hotel. Chef Lane presented his seared jumbo octopus with duck fat potato, salsa verde and first pressed olive oil, during one of the festival’s most popular evening events. While making her annual visit to the South Beach Wine & Food Festival, Martha Stewart couldn’t resist having her photo taken with Chef Lane after trying a sample of the grilled jumbo octopus.
credit: COMO Hotels