Snail Award Party Updated

Winner of last night’s Snail of Approval Award went to Chef Paula Dasilva, 1500 restaurant for her OUTSTANDING Crispy pork belly in a crispy wonton wrapper. The execution of this dish was truly sensational. I knew the minute I bit into it she’d be the winner!

Slow Food Miami’s 2012’s Snail of Approval Awards Party last night was held at the newly renovated Miami Beach Botanical Gardens in South Beach!   Fourteen Chefs using locally sourced quality ingredients competed for title Snail of Approval.  Judges included Lee Schrager, Bruce Seidel, Chef Art Smith and Victoria Pesce Elliott, with event ambassador, Chef Michael Schwartz.  There was a nice variety of dishes from an exotic Yucca Gator Croquetta to a simple Feta Cheese Mousse. As I’m not a chef or a foodie, I was worried I wasn’t going to meet anyone I knew there so was pleasantly surprised to see 2 guests who were both chefs and had attended my classes!
What a beautiful setting and perfect weather for this inaugural Awards Party to help raise funds for the Edible School Garden Program.  I’m all for encouraging kids at a young age to have a healthy, respectful attitude towards food.  That’s why getting to meet Chef Art Smith, founder of Common Threads was one of the highlights of this evening. I so enjoyed teaching a Common Threads class, their mission is similar to this Edible School Garden Program. Find out how you can get involved with Common Threads here. The other highlight was meeting Bruce Seidel, now with Electus.  He developed Food Network Star and Iron Chef America and is now heading up Youtube’s new food channel beginning July.  I’m working on a video of Bruce, so stay tuned.

Find out what the Slow Food movement is all about here and see how you can get involved or to attend future events.

Finally, here’s what everyone wants to see, the chefs and their dishes!  If you were there, tell us which dish you liked and why?