This weekend the City of Deerfield Beach held its third-annual Deerfield Beach Wine & Food Festival at the Quiet Waters Park from Friday, April 26 to Sunday, April 28th. The festival featured a number of events, including a VIP party dubbed Dinner Under The Stars, a Vineyard Party featuring plenty of wine and beer, a VIP Grand Tasting and a Sunday Jazz Bubbles and Brunch event.
Over the three-day nosh-fest, guests had the chance to experience food and drink from more that 50 of South Florida's area chefs, restaurants and vendors as well as wines from around the world. There were also live cooking demonstrations, a garden market, retail and business bazaar, and sensory tasting classes presented by our festival sommelier.
If you didn't get a chance to make it we've compiled the best of the weekend's events in photos. Keep reading for a look at some of our favorite presenters, including a new locally-based liquor drink-in-can known as Kiss Mix, and a company that let's you grown an herb garden and tomato plant all in one hydroponic pot.
A tasting table included our favorite pick, Giol's rosato organic sparkling merlot. Registered in 1427, Giol is one of the oldest bonded wineries in Italy, and has been organically farming since 1986. The wine is available for purchase at Boynton Beach and Delray Beach's Nutrition Cottage.
Pompano Beach's The Heart of the Gourmet is the creation of recording artist Kevin Roth, an American folk singer and dulcimer player who has released forty-five albums, and performed at the White House for Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. As the story goes, while on one of his concert tours, Roth stumbled upon a gourmet olive oil and balsamic tasting room and fell in love with the infused flavors and decided to begin his own shop, one that fused artisanal food, art and charity into one concept. The store sells a wide variety of the world's freshest premium flavored olive oils like bacon, portobello and habanero, as well as flavored balsamic vinegars, specialty varietal olive oils and gourmet food products. Visit theheartofthegourmet.com or like them on Facebook.
Barbados-born personal chef and South Florida caterer Paul Griffith gave festival-goers a taste of one of his specialty dishes Sunday. Griffith, who began his career in Miami, started cooking for the legendary reggae band Inner Circle after graduating from Johnson & Wales in 2000. The relationship led to employment with bands from the North Miami Circle House recording studio complex, where Griffith sharpened his skills by preparing meals for international recording artists and producers including Julio Iglesias, Enrique Iglesias, Jose Feliciano, Sean "Diddy" Combs, Nas, Faith Evans and Cash Money Millionaires. Most notable in his career thus far has been Griffith's Body Mind and Soul International Inc., a company that designs custom-tailored integrated training and eating plans for South Florida clients after a cancer scare prompted him to have a renewed focus on healthy food preparation. Since that time Griffith has continued to be in demand as a personal chef and caterer, working for the likes of famed photographer Jonathan Mannion, and artists like Lil' Wayne, Akon, T-Pain, Rick Ross and DJ Khaled. For more information, visit chef-paul.com.
Newly-opened Dickey's Barbecue Pit off Powerline Road in Boca Raton features some pretty awesome barbecue for a good price. The chain does Texas-style barbecue since 1941 and offers eight different pit-smoked meats, including a turkey, chicken, ribs, beef brisket, a Southern-style pulled pork -- even a special "family recipe" Polish sausage. And parents, listen up: kids eat free on Sunday, while everyone is welcome to free ice cream all day, every day. Visit dickeys.com or Facebook page.
The Florida Fresh Meat Company offers South Florida residents a taste of grass-fed meats like pork, goat, lamb, chicken, duck -- even gator the likes of which are served at Jupiter's Guanabanas Island Restaurant and Bar. Raised without the use of antibiotics or hormones, the Florida Fresh Meat company sticks with Florida-bred and Florida-fed animals, which means everything comes from local farms where animals are pasture-raised. Now that's certainly "Florida Fresh." For more information on where to buy, visit floridafreshmeat.com.
Boca-based the Herb'n'Garden is a self contained, maintenance free, soil-less, hydroponic garden system that lets you grow everything from your favorite vegetables and herbs, to flowers and plants -- all in one pot. You don't even need to water it! Just "plug it in and forget about it." The kit includes everything you need to start growing your favorite vegetables and herbs. Like them on Facebook.
Kiss Mix is a South Florida-based company that offers premium, ready-to-drink alcoholic cocktails in a can. The brand started in the UK, where mixologists worked alongside European beverage makers to create a slimline aluminium, recyclable can to house strong (there's two shots of liquor in each can) spirit-based cocktails that taste as fresh as the real thing. Flavors include the Cosmo, Lemon Drop, Screwdriver and Gin & Tonic, as well as a vodka-energy drink and the newest addition, a margarita in a can. Just pop the top, pour, add ice and serve. For more information on where to buy, visit kiss-mix.net or like them on Facebook.
OK, even if it's a wine festival, no party is complete without the beer. Local beer bar Tap 42 and South Florida brewery Holy Mackerel of Mack House in Davie made it out to treat festival attendees to some of the best craft beer around.
Follow Nicole Danna on Twitter, @SoFloNicole.
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