Well, as many of you are aware, I attended the SOBE Food and Wine Festival this past weekend. This was my first year attending, definitely not my last!

Check out the video I made at the fest

Clearly this year the event to attend was the BubbleQ hosted by Tom Colicchio and friends Friday evening. This event was the talk of the day on Saturday, it seems that Rocco DiSpirito had a great time mingling with several of his female fans. I am definitely planning on attending this next year.

We arrived at the beach early Saturday morning, eager to experience up close and personal some of the great minds that I spend some many hours watching and studying. First on the list to see, Rocco DiSpirito. His demo was very aptly entitled, “Get Real”. And that he did. As one would expect, this demo was full of humor and fun, but don’t make light of his dancing abilities (<: His focus was on keeping things simple and on having fun with your cooking and deliver an experience for your guests, make that connection through food. Anyone who knows me knows I’m all about the later of those, love making and/or cementing relationships through food!

Next on the “To See” list, Cat Cora! What can you say, but WOW. What’s not to love, she’s from the south, has greek heritage (yummy), and is the ONLY female Iron Chef. Her demo was “Fun in the Sun”. Fun it was, Cat prepared yummy and SIMPLE crab cakes with an avocado puree and mango salsa. Start to finish, less than 15 minutes! Now that’s what I call keeping it simple....and yummy. She finished her demo with a great twist on the traditional margarita, a sake margarita. Didn’t get to taste, but definitely have it on the list of must trys!

Of course I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to meet extraordinary chef and all around great person, so off to the tent I went with cookbook in hand. As I’m standing in line with all of Cat’s other fans, I see a camera crew and woman with a microphone in hand walking up in our direction. Well, they can up to where we were, but they interviewed….ME!!!! How fun was that, don’t know that it will ever air, but I can now say that I’ve been interviewed by Food Network. Finally, I made it up to Cat, and what a treat, she was every bit as nice and hospitable as she always has appeared to be. She even signed my book to “The Next Female Iron Chef”! Hey, we all gotta have something to reach for, right? This is one of those things for me, read on for the next! 

Well, here I am at a Food and Wine Festival and haven’t had much of any wine or food, so off to the big tent we went. This was my only disappointment of the day. Let’s just say loads of people and hello….free alcohol, need I say more? But, did experience some fantastic wines and the food was…ok….not mine, but ok.

Now, the time is FINALLY here…..Tom Colicchio. His demo is entitled, ok, you guessed it, “Think Like A Chef”. His focus was encouraging people to free themselves of the need of re-creating other dishes and/or recipes, but to do what they like. Walk into a market and let the ingredients call you and go from there. This brought back so many found memories of going to market every morning while living in Italy and doing just that, seeing what was fresh and ignited my taste buds.

His demonstration of using vinaigrettes for not only dressing a plate or marinades but how to also braise with them was a treat. Although there was more than one occasion where someone asked about who won Top Chef, he never revealed, damn contracts! He did however divulge that he really enjoyed watching Carla in the kitchen. Of course I had to take advantage of the chance to meet this great icon, so, again back to the tent and in line with cookbook in hand I went. So, can you guess what I asked to have him sign in my book….you got it! To Dolce Debbie, Future Top Chef. That was a great ice breaker, he truly is an all around nice guy as well as being a genius in the kitchen.

So the moral of the story…Keep it simple, enjoy what you do, and have fun!!!!

alla prossimo – Debbie