SOBE 2026 Proves

It’s as Fun as Ever…

Lee & David

It was great to return to Miami for SOBE 2026, which was its 25^th anniversary. Bouncing into town after a long flight, we were a little sad not to go to my chef buddy Peter Vauthey’s Red steak house, as he had to close in 2025 due to high rent increases. While Red was a prime location in South Beach, one wonders what a landlord will put in that location besides a restaurant. Since his restaurant was closed, missed saying hello, but saw on his Instagram feed he recently wound up in hospital with heart problems, which he vowed to correct with a healthier lifestyle. Amen to that. Note to all winery types, restaurant chefs and service staff, while you may love your job, it’s not worth killing yourself over.

NFA Burger

So with Red closed, we decided to go for dinner at Setai, a restaurant that impressed at last year’s SOBE fest kick off party. Setai is the place for very good food, wine, service and atmosphere. We had Pad Thai, Bone in Ribeye and Duck Spring rolls. Webgal stated that the Pad Thai was the best she ever had. Next day, had a lot of fun at the SOBE kick off fest party hosted by event founder Lee Schrager, again at the Setai. Why change venues, when the food is this good? After a fine party, it was onto the beach where Rachel Ray hosted her annual burger contest which if you like burgers, did not disappoint. NFA Burger won Schweid & Son’s The Very Best Burger Award and Labirra Bar won Mike’s Amazing People’s Choice Award. Don’t have much of a sweet tooth, but really enjoyed a shake that was served at a diner like booth.

Marcus Samuellson

Next day was trade day, which was fun to explore all the new and returning booths on the beach, followed by Guy Fieri’s Team Restaurant challenge in the evening. Lots of good grub to be had in a nice array of different restaurants.

Saturday had some fun at the beach booths and speaker stages before grabbing a Lyft to the Eden Rock hotel, where Napa’s Flavia winemaker Andy Erickson and Stag’s Leap Leap Wine Cellars COO Jean Munoz-Oca were hosting back to back tastings of their wines. While the wines were tasty and smooth, was equally impressed with the crowd who knew their wines. While I was sipping these nice reds, the web gal was watching Guy Fieri cooking demonstration which ended with him tossing a mashup of food stuffs into the audience, which most loved, but one guy was peeved that his shirt got stained.

Guy Fieri

Saturday night’s event was the Master’s of Flame event, hosted by various chefs and was a fun, tasty experience. La Parka Nostra was the Allen Brothers People Choice Award winner. Nice surprise to see the Caymus booth.

Jet Tila

Andrew Zimmern was hosting the Outfront Miami Legendary Bite Award where Mike’s Amazing Lobster Beignet with Caviar won the award.

Sunday, was nice to say hello to Andrew Zimmern again and have him sign his new seafood cookbook: Blue Food Cookbook, seafood dishes for a sustainable future, which the web gal was happy to purchase after his stage cooking demonstration. Web gal also had a chat with chef Jet Tila after buying his 101 Asian Dishes You Need To Cook Before You Die, cookbook. Zimmern hosted the closing night event, where they had this amazing DJ spinning an incredible mix of old and new that had the crowd non-stop grooving until Zimmern called it a night and told the crowd to come back next year. Will do Andrew!!