Celebrity chefs and wasabi ice cream: Here’s what isn’t sold out at Visit Lauderdale Food & Wine Festival 2024

Broward County’s biggest food and wine festival has celebrity chefs, apocalyptic barbecue, wasabi ice cream – and, unsurprisingly, few tickets left to sell.

The chef-studded Grand Tasting at Las Olas Oceanside Park? Gone. The Poolside BBQ at Hyatt Centric Las Olas? Snapped up a month ago. As of Wednesday, less than a week before Visit Lauderdale Food & Wine Festival returns Jan. 8-14, a few remaining passes remain for intimate dinners and the festival’s newest signature event: Wok ‘n’ Roll, a showcase of Asian street food paired with live rock music.

Probably not for long, say festival organizers Phillip Marro and Kate Reed. Gone are the days when the spectre of a pandemic hampered ticket sales, as they did in 2021, 2022 and even last year.

“Things are definitely back,” Marro says. “People are looking to dine out more than they have over the last few years.”

Headlining celebrity chefs include Aarón Sánchez (Fox’s “MasterChef” and “MasterChef Junior”), Jason Smith (winner of Food Network’s “Food Network Star” Season 13 and “Holiday Baking Championship” Season 3), Nancy Fuller (Food Network’s “Farmhouse Rules”) and Nicole Layog (“Big Brother” Season 24).

And yes, there are many decorated locals in the mix, including Jeremy Ford (Stubborn Seed, The Butcher’s Club), Thuan Lam (MISO Japanese Tapas), Paula DaSilva (Ritz-Carlton Fort Lauderdale) and Timon Balloo (The Katherine).

Despite the festival’s name, Marro and Reid say they aren’t sticklers for championing just Broward restaurants. Case in point: Jeff Budnechky’s white-hot Kendall shop Apocalypse BBQ will clash tongs with eight other pitmasters at the Poolside BBQ Battle (Jan. 12). In recent months, Apocalypse has gained the rare reputation of a destination pilgrimage, with lines stretching out the door for two hours on weekends for slow-smoked brisket, pulled pork and cornbread formed in a skull mold.

At Wok & Roll (Jan. 11), 10 vendors will serve Asian street food at Backyard in downtown Fort Lauderdale, paired with covers of AC/DC and Guns N’ Roses by Fort Lauderdale’s Spank the Band.

Jimmy Anderson, co-owner of Davie’s Sweet Aloha Ice Cream, will bring a tantalizing taste of Hawaii to Wok ‘n’ Roll, an Asian street-food showcase at Backyard in downtown Fort Lauderdale. During the event, Anderson will debut three new ice-cream flavors, all Asian-themed: ube brownie, a mashup of chocolate and Filipino purple yams; lychee sorbet, a fruit that tastes like a combination of strawberry and watermelon; and wasabi, which “packs a punch three seconds after you taste it.”

Anderson, a retired Air Force staff sergeant, opened Sweet Aloha in August 2021 with his Maui-raised wife, Lynne. Their scoop shop also specializes in Hawaiian shave ice, a frozen dessert where mounds of soft, sheer ice flakes are topped with tangy syrups and fruit purees.

Sweet Aloha has its roots in Huntington Beach, Calif., where the couple started a food truck called Haole Boys Shave Ice “pretty much as a self-deprecating joke,” he says. Anderson is a self-described “haole” (pronounced “how-lee”), not-very-endearing slang for what Hawaiians like his wife call mainlanders, often white, who visit the archipelago.

“The ice cream is just as good as the Hawaiian shave ice,” he says. “ And it’s a perfect pairing for Asian street food.”

Wok ‘n’ Roll organizer Diego Ng says South Florida’s Asian-American population is growing, so he wanted diverse representation in the lineup while championing restaurants from younger, U.S.-born second-generation entrepreneurs. Other vendors include ghost kitchen 2 Korean Girls, the Baoshi food hall (pan-Asian), Jeepney (Phillippines), Krakatoa (Indonesian), Lutong Pinoy (Phillippines), Miso Japanese Tapas, Red Pine Restaurant & Lounge (Chinese), Zuru Ramen Bar (Japanese) and Temple Street Eatery.

“When you grow up as a second-generation Asian, like I did, you feel that identity struggle,” says Ng, who is Chinese-Venezuelan and co-owns Temple Street Eatery in Fort Lauderdale. “The struggle isn’t a bad thing. It’s just important for us second-gens to help each other.”

Along with Wok ‘n’ Roll, here are three more events not yet sold out at the 2024 Visit Lauderdale Food & Wine Festival. Please note: Some events may be close to selling out, so visit VLFoodWine.com for more options.

Dinner at Union Kitchen & Bar

7 p.m. Jan. 9 at Union Kitchen + Bar, 2309 N. Dixie Highway, Wilton Manors; Eventbrite link

Union’s husband-and-wife team of sommelier Roberto Colombi (Italy’s Michelin two-star Ristorante Gualtiero Marchesi) and chef Christie Tenaud (James Beard-winning Primo in Tucson, Ariz.) will pair up with chef Vinnie Cimino (Cordelia in Cleveland) for a five-course meal of grilled octopus, beef tartare, squid ink lobster and ricotta ravioli, bone-in pork belly and tahini-nut butter and jelly ice cream. Limited tickets remain.

Dinner at Burlock Coast

6:30 p.m. Jan. 10 at Burlock Coast at Ritz-Carlton Fort Lauderdale, 1 N. Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd., Fort Lauderdale; Eventbrite link

This dream-team pairing of local chefs Paula DaSilva (James Beard semifinalist), Adrienne Grenier (Food Network’s “Chopped”) and Jeremy Ford (Michelin one-star Stubborn Seed) will include four courses paired with wine and cocktails.

Picnic in the Park

noon-4 p.m. Jan. 14 at Las Olas Oceanside Park, 3000 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale; Eventbrite link

This family-friendly free event will feature food trucks, cooking demos, culinary classes (how to make corn dogs and watermelon pizza), local artisan vendors and live entertainment.

Visit Lauderdale Food & Wine Festival will take place from Jan. 8 to 14 at multiple Broward County locations. Individual events cost $50 to $250, except for a Jan. 14 Picnic in the Park, which is free. For the full schedule, go to VLFoodWine.com and Eventbrite.com.