It’s a wrap: Palm Beach Food and Wine Festival returns with a splash

Liz Balmaseda, Palm Beach Post
·2 min read

After skipping last year due to COVID concerns, the Palm Beach Food and Wine Festival splashed into its 14th year this weekend in a spree of sunny days. The four-day festival brought more than 20 feasts and tastings, plus a constellation of star chefs, to five local cities.

The visiting Michelin-starred chefs, James Beard Award winners and TV celebrity chefs brought a sparkle matched only by the weekend’s al fresco-perfect weather.

The nationally acclaimed festival, which began as a three-hour event at a shopping plaza in Palm Beach and swelled to a multi-day fest a decade ago, celebrated several milestones this year.

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Chef Daniel Boulud is surprised with a special cake to celebrate his 10th year at the Palm Beach Food and Wine Festival. Boulud hosted a festival brunch at his Café Boulud Palm Beach Sunday.
Chef Daniel Boulud is surprised with a special cake to celebrate his 10th year at the Palm Beach Food and Wine Festival. Boulud hosted a festival brunch at his Café Boulud Palm Beach Sunday.

It was the 10th year that global star chef Daniel Boulud hosted a festival event at his Café Boulud Palm Beach, the 10th year chef Clay Conley’s Buccan Palm Beach restaurant hosted an opening-night festival dinner, and the 10th year the festival partnered with the Four Seasons Palm Beach as its hospitality headquarters.

But final things first: In a departure from its annual Grand Tasting event, most recently held at the Palm Beach County Convention Center, the festival instead took over the downtown West Palm Beach plaza now known as The Square (formerly CityPlace) on Sunday.

Guests gather at the Palm Beach Food and Wine Festival's "Grillin' n' Chillin'" cookout at the Eau Palm Beach resort Saturday.
Guests gather at the Palm Beach Food and Wine Festival's "Grillin' n' Chillin'" cookout at the Eau Palm Beach resort Saturday.

This is where two Food Network celebrity chefs, Marc Murphy and Robert Irvine, joined the judges’ panel at the festival’s annual Grand Chef Throwdown competition.

Three local executive chefs – Jordan Lerman of Beacon in Jupiter, Jeffrey Armusik of the Palm Beach Marriott Singer Island Beach Resort and Jimmy Everett of Driftwood restaurant in Boynton Beach – battled it out for 25 minutes in a “Chopped”-style contest to benefit local charities. Each of the chefs had been selected to represent a local media outlet.

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Chef Lindsay Autry presents Chef Jimmy Everett's winning pasta dish to a panel of celebrity judges Sunday during the Palm Beach Food and Wine Festival's "Grand Chef Throwdown" competition at The Square in West Palm Beach.
Chef Lindsay Autry presents Chef Jimmy Everett's winning pasta dish to a panel of celebrity judges Sunday during the Palm Beach Food and Wine Festival's "Grand Chef Throwdown" competition at The Square in West Palm Beach.

The winning dish: Everett’s paccheri Bolognese. The chef, competing for The Post’s nonprofit holiday drive, Season to Share, was awarded a symbolic, oversized check for $10,000 to be donated to this year’s Season to Share nominees.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach Food & Wine Festival returns with TV celebrity chefs