A closing celebration for the 9th annual Miami International Wine Fair, more than 400 foodies flocked to SUGARCANE raw bar grill on Sunday October 17th for what was arguably one of Miami’s best, new battles, the First Annual Ceviche Throwdown. South Florida’s top chefs, Timon Balloo of SUGARCANE raw bar grill; Douglas Rodriguez of Ocean; Jonathan Eismann of Pizza Volente; Kris Wessel of Red Light; Andrea Curto-Randazzo of The Water Club; Juan Chipoco of CVI.CHE 105; Tim Andriola of Timo; Clay Conley of Büccan, Bernard Matz of Books & Books Cafe and Dena Marino battled for the “Best In Show” and “People’s Choice” awards in what was a tough call regarding who can throwdown Miami’s best ceviche recipe.
A six-person judging panel included Belkys Nerey of WSVN 7; Leticia de Mello Bueno of Slow Food Miami; Charlie Arturaola, a wine expert in the industry; Natascha Ottero of South Florida Foodies; Ashley Roth communications director of Friends of Fisherman and the lucky crowd winner, Gale Casale. Each judge individually sampled the different ceviches and wine pairings, and scored on uniqueness, presentation, overall dish, taste and ability to pair.
Chef Chipoco of CVI.CHE 105 won the title of “Best In Show” with his Mixed Seafood Ceviche while Chef Randazzo of The Water Club won the “People’s Choice” award with a Corvine Ceviche with three citrus-lemongrass marinade, avocado mousse, red chile oil crispy yucca and Hawaiian pink passion sea salt. However, the real winners were the Friends of the Fisherman, a nonprofit associated with Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board, the recipient of a large donation totaling nearly $10,000 as a result of outstanding ticket sales.
All produce was generously donated by Sunrise Fresh Produce, Inc. and seafood provided by Andes Seafood Distributors, Inc., Day Boat Seafood LLC, Trigger Seafood, South Coast Fish Company and Independent Seafood. Custom “Trophies” were created by artist Fernando Sucre. Wines provided by Kinder Wines, Chateau Ka, AMG Organic Imports, 3 Gen, Gozzo, Orvino Wine Imports, Puerto Viejo, Postales, Terramaior, G Wines and Vin Americas.
For more information about SUGARCANE raw bar grill, visit www.sugarcanerawbargrill.com.