Sup on savory stone crab
Sarasota celebrates in style, and the 19th Annual Stone Crab, Seafood & Wine Festival is no exception. For the past 18 years, The Colony Beach and Tennis Resort on Longboat Key has marked the start of stone crab season with a spectacular three-day event, held this year November 13-16, 2008.
Where else can you enjoy fine dining, live music, dancing on the beach, culinary demonstrations and wine seminars, mingle with the country's top chefs and winemakers and even see a live mermaid? The much anticipated festival is all that and more.
For starters, the resort is perched on the sparkling shores of the Gulf of Mexico and attracts discriminating visitors from across the globe.
Add ample opportunities to meet epicurean superstars; toss in revelry, camaraderie and Florida's succulent, sweet-tasting claws, and voila! - You have an irresistible recipe for a fabulous feast for the senses.
Expect seafood specialties like caviar and crab soufflé, crab stuffed in striped bass or wrapped in smoked salmon and truffle-infused zabaglione atop slices of lobster claws and roasted pears. Demonstrations are a lively showcase of spirited instruction, where guest chefs take turns preparing signature dishes and vintners offer their selections, carefully paired to complement the individual recipes presented for tasting.
The relaxing, intimate sessions encourage a very singular interaction, enhanced by the participation of guest chefs alongside the Colony's own renowned Chef Roger Hopkins. The roster of past participants reads like a "Who's Who" of the culinary world. Alumni include chefs Jean-Louis Palladin, Bob Kinkead, Vincent Guerithault, David Burke, Michelle Bernstein, Kerry Simon and Dickle Brennan. Winemakers from leading wineries such as Silverado, Far Niente, Arrowood, Schramsberg, Clos Pegase and Hogue Cellars have all been represented.
This year's lineup is just as star-studded and boasts the likes of Colby and Megan Garrelts of Bluestem Restaurant, Kansas City, Missouri; Amanda Lydon of Ten Tables, Cambridge, Massachussets, and Straight Wharf Restaurant, Nantucket, Massachussets; Felicia Suzanne Willett, Emeril Lagasse's long-time assistant based in Memphis, Tennessee; and Cyrile Holota of JOEL Restaurant, Atlanta, Georgia.
It's nothing short of synergy when these famous folks combine efforts for the Chefs' Gala Collaboration Dinner. This final festival fanfare brings them together to create a stellar seven-course meal accompanied by specially selected wines. Share glittering tables with winemakers and food and wine press from around the country, and dance throughout the evening and late into the night... a fitting conclusion to a uniquely memorable event.
Festival attendees can choose one or all of the events on offer during the three-day extravaganza to the succulent crustacean and its elegant couplings of fruits of the vine.
Select from the gala dinner, daytime demonstrations and/or the Friday night Festival Tasting on the Beach, a sand-between-your-toes feast with each participating chef serving his or her specialty seafood dish, winemakers pouring one or more highly rated and sometimes rare vintages, live music and a live "mermaid" swimming in the pool, not to mention boatloads of freshly cracked claws.
Stone crabs are not harvested; only their large, crushing claw is removed. The crabs are returned to sea, where they regenerate new claws, ensuring a bountiful supply and sensational seafood celebrations at area tables for years to come.
Tickets to this event are limited. So, get cracking and make your Stone Crab Festival reservations today by calling (941) 383-6464 ext. 2854. For more information on the festival and this year's participating culinary stars, visit www.colonybeachresort.com.
