Saturday's record-breaking, 89-degree heat didn't go unnoticed at the Grand Tasting.
''I'm wilting,'' Rachael Ray moaned during her cooking demonstration. But still, she turned off the huge fan for the audience Q&A.
''I'd rather sweat and be able to hear you,'' she said, eliciting cheers.
Bobby Flay had no complaints, calling the Miami weather ``amazing.''
``Sipping champagne at the beach, at night -- who thinks that's a bad idea?''
Flay easily pleased the raucous, overflow crowd at his grilling demo.
There are two kinds of guys, he said. ``Those who can barbecue and those who think they can barbecue.''
He joked that Emeril Lagasse was ''treating everyone at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival to lunch at Joe's Stone Crab'' to celebrate his $45 million deal with Martha Stewart.
Rick and Sylvia Abramson had flown in from Buffalo.
''We haven't been to the festival in five years, and I'm amazed at how big it is,'' said Abramson, who's in the hospitality business. ``But it's a well-orchestrated event with lots of friendly, cooperative volunteers.''
By mid-afternoon, the Grand Tasting Village was bulging with people jockeying for places in the food and drink lines.
''I think they oversell it,'' said Lisa Sparks of Miami Beach, sipping a brew with Fernando Sigui. It's a little crowded but it's fun, and the food selection is better this year. We're having a blast!''
-- ROCHELLE KOFF
