CHEWS NEWS

Savor Soflo Returns To Hollywood Beach

Rick Karlin

The third annual SAVOR SOFLO FESTIVAL takes place Saturday and Sunday, April 1-2 on Hollywood Beach, behind host hotel Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort. The popular two-day festival invites local and visiting foodies, wine enthusiasts, and craft beer aficionados to hit the beach for a weekend full of good eats, beats, and arts while celebrating the local culinary and hospitality community of South Florida.

Taking place under two giant tents spanning 25,000 square feet, SAVOR SoFLO is a feast for the senses. The event will feature dozens of chefs, culinary personalities, restaurants, wine and spirits producers, and craft breweries. Festival goers will also be able to enjoy numerous interactive cooking demonstrations on the San Pellegrino Cooking Stage featuring local and national chef talent throughout the weekend.

Tammy Gail, Savor SoFLO founder and producer said, “We look forward to our best year yet, with new and exciting offerings and participants, plenty of food, drinks, and music. We cannot wait for a fabulous weekend of wine in our hands and toes in the sand.”

Tickets to the Festival are all-inclusive, offering guests unlimited access to food, wine and beer samplings, and live DJ entertainment and a limited-edition wine glass + lanyard and a custom tote bag. General Admission is priced at $95 per person and gives guests access to the event from 1-4 p.m. VIP tickets are available for $135 per person and include early entry to the event at noon, as well as exclusive access to the VIP Spirits Lounge, featuring a premier spirits lounge. Tickets may be purchased online at www.savorsoflo.com, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting Broward Health Foundation. For a full lineup of participants and weekend happenings, please follow the Festival on social media @savorsoflo.

MIDWESTERNER’S REJOICE

Wisconsin cheeseheads are thrilled that a CULVER’S has opened in Margate on Copan’s Rd. just east of State Rd. 7. That means that they can get fried cheese curds (the Wisconsin state vegetable) and Culver’s yummy fried fish sandwiches in addition to its famous frozen custard… Chicagoans, if you’ve been craving the kind of stuffed pizza, you can only get from Giordano’s, have I got news for you IL BARETTO RISTORANTE, 220 S. University Dr. in Plantation has a Chicago-trained pizza maker, and his pizza is as good as, if not better than, Giordano’s. It’s a small storefront, so make reservations at 954-473-9400; IlBarettoRistorante.com. BTW, our server was movie-star handsome, and didn’t change the rating of the pizza, but it sure was a bonus.

New Or Coming Soon

The cookie monster is coming! CHIP CITY COOKIES is scheduled to open five new storefronts in South Florida by this fall. The company, founded in 2017, has 17 locations in New York and New Jersey. Shake Shack founder Danny Meyer made a $10 million investment to add the South Florida locations. Its enormous cookies weigh in at just under six ounces and include a dairy-free chocolate chip, as well as standard confections with flavors such as chocolate peanut butter, and unusual seasonal offerings including blueberry cheesecake,

HUNGRY FOR MORE? 

hot honey cornbread, and a pistachio-laden cannoli cookie. Also expanding into Florida by way of Canada is MOXIE’S. The chain has opened an enormous two-story dining room seating nearly 400 at 201 E. Las Olas. It offers everything from traditional steakhouse fare to beef vindaloo, miso ramen bowls, pot stickers, Thai chili chicken, French onion soup, baby back ribs, and short-rib Bolognese. After being delayed by the pandemic, VOODOO BAYOU, a southern Cajun cafe is expected to open on the Las Olas sometime this spring, replacing the former Café de Paris. Its flagship opened in Palm Beach Gardens in 2020.

One Last Thing

Congratulations to APT. 9F, one of the few restaurants in the county to get a perfect score from the health inspectors. Kudos to Carol Moran and the gang.