South Beach Wine & Food Festival has more events, same COVID rules. Tickets now available
Guy Fieri is turning the sands of South Beach into Flavortown.
The rock ‘n’ roll Food Network chef is hosting a new “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” themed event to kickoff the first day of the 2022 South Beach Wine & Food Festival, which started selling tickets today for Capital One credit card holders. The four-day festival, which runs Feb. 24-27, is returning to a more normal state than last year, when it pushed back the event three months and cut capacity to about a third. But it will still require guests, chefs and staff to state that they have been vaccinated or have tested negative for COVID-19.
Tickets for the general public will go on sale starting Nov. 15.
And there will be more events to choose from as the festival shook up its lineup with more big-name celebrity chefs headlining more than 90 events. The 2022 festival marks the return of wine seminars and master classes, canceled during last year’s pandemic-shrunk event, where diners can choose to learn the art of making everything from pasta with Macchialina’s Michael Pirolo to cocktails from award-winning bar Sweet Liberty and baking with Sullivan Street Bakery.
Hallandale Beach features four events over three days, and Fort Lauderdale will host another two.
The big change from last year will return this year: Burger Bash, co-hosted by celebrity chefs José Andrés and Rachel Ray, will be split over two sessions to cut down on the number of diners huddled under the white big-top tents on the beach. But the Grand Tastings will be a single events Saturday and Sunday. Attendance will be limited to 45,000 total, up from about 20,000 last year but down from the usual 60,000.
And the popular Tacos After Dark event proved such an annual hit that it will take prominence under the beachside tents as Tacos & Tequila, hosted by chef Aarón Sánchez.
Fieri will also be the honored chef at the annual top-dollar tribute dinner, which former honoree Andrés, a chef nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, will emcee.
The festival also will spread farther inland this year as events will be held nightly in Miami’s upscale Design District.
South Beach Wine & Food Festival
Tickets: On sale Nov. 8 for Capital One cardholders at sobewff.org, Nov. 15 for the general public.
More info: at sobewff.org or by calling 866-271-8540
This story was originally published November 8, 2021 at 4:39 PM.
