Conjuring a celebration

Launching a new wine and food festival at a local landmark requires a wizard who mixes experience with sleight of hand.

By CHRIS SHERMAN
Published May 15, 2007

ST. PETE BEACH

Faced with an additional 5, 000 guests and a dozen more chefs in his kitchen, executive chef Eric Neri doesn't worry about the first Tampa Bay Wine & Food Festival this weekend. He's used to the heat.

Although promoters have pitched the three-day festival at the Don CeSar Beach Resort with images of Miami's annual fusion of gourmet and glitz on South Beach, this new event will have a strong local cast and flavor. It relies largely on the strength of the bay area's best chefs and top executives of a homegrown empire, Outback.

For them, the festival's grand banquet will be a welcome chance for old friends and new pals - from Mise en Place's Marty Blitz and Bern's Jeannie Pierola to Dan Tederous at the Capital Grille - to get together in the kitchen. Most fundraisers staff their own stations at buffets, or hold their own, like Bern's WineFest. Not this time.

A toast to the town

The festival hopes to attract more out-of-town stars and celebrity chefs in the future and still has tickets for its wide variety of events.

This year, the big visiting names are British-born Robert Irvine, star of the Food Network's Dinner Impossible, who plans to open restaurants in a downtown St. Petersburg condo tower, and Masaharu Morimoto of the Iron Chef series. Other guests include Outback's Tim Gannon, Tim Curci of Bonefish Grill and Damian Mandola of Carrabba's.

The global wine list and supply of call brand spirits have been put together by host sponsor Southern Wine & Spirits, the giant distributor. It includes Perrier-Jouet, Far Niente and Stolichnaya. For an accent on local favorites, seminars will feature Spanish wines of Montecillo and wines of Washington State, now making a big local push.

Among the dozen seminars are special treats, such as cooking classes by Jose Martinez, a Parisian Michelin star who landed in Longboat Key; wines from Artesa, a Spanish winery in Napa; and Italian wines honored by Gambero Rosso.

At the center of it all will be Neri, for the party is at his place, the pink Gatsby-esque resort hotel on the beach, with 247 rooms and three kitchens.

Neri is so organized that his festival file has color photos of the plating of each course for Saturday's grand black-tie gala and of each of the appetizers to pass at the Champagne party afterward.

Neri doesn't really need them. Besides the wit and skill of a gourmet restaurant, a veteran hotel chef has unflappable aplomb and special eyesight. The optic nerves plug into an intuitive computer that processes any challenge with a virtual spread sheet and mental laser printer, no matter the numbers.

Conducting the bustle

At a glance, one corner of the fifth floor hallways looks like a wide space in a carpeted corridor, an ad hoc sitting room with salmon sofa and armchairs.

"I'll have four, no, six 8-foot tables here, and several of my guys, each one will take two apps, and they'll set them up there for the servers, " in the hall with a straight shot to the Champagne party.

That will be the final round, Neri says, after which "we can go get a beer."

But the stations can't be set up until the first course for the banquet heads to the ballroom four floors down. That course will come from the northeast terrace, a meeting room that will transform into a staging area for Morimoto to assemble his first course of cold plates.

In the main kitchen, behind the stainless doors on the fifth floor, squadrons of chefs assigned to the next courses will plate 240 meals on two long lines. "We can do that in 20 minutes a course, " Neri says. Chef Chris Ponte of Cafe Ponte and Gannon will prepare the final course dessert on the fifth and rendezvous on the first floor with ice cream from a ground floor cooler.

Logistical wizardry is second nature to the hotel breed of chefs. On any weekend night, Neri and the Don could have seven parties. There is one wedding during the festival.

A tent outside for 1, 500 at the grand tasting? No problem. The only catch Neri was sorting out last week was glassware, a wine festival necessity. "Now that's an issue." Neri said. "We've got flatware, silverware, linens but . . ." thousands of glasses - maybe 8, 000 for banquets, grand tastings and seminars, with formations of sniffing crystal at each setting? Difficult, but it would not prove impossible.

Chris Sherman can be reached at (727) 893-8585 or e-mail csherman@sptimes.com.

Tampa Bay Wine & Food Festival

The three-day event at the Don CeSar Beach Resort on St. Pete Beach benefits the Abilities Foundation. Tickets and a complete schedule of events: www.tampabaywineandfoodfestival.com or call (727) 538-7370, ext. 345.

Thursday

7 a.m.: Golf invitational at Feather Sound Country Club.

7 p.m.: Chef contest: Food Network's Robert Irvine versus a team of Outback co-founder Tim Gannon and Carrabba's co-founder Damian Mandola; $250.

Friday

11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.: Seminars on Scotch, Rioja wine, pasta, cheeses, Italian seafood cooking and more; $40 each.

6:30 p.m.: Black-tie gala of five-course dinner prepared by a dozen top local and visiting chefs, and auction; $250.

10 p.m.: Bubble bash of Champagne and hors d'oeuvres; $100 (after 11:30 p.m., $50).

Saturday

10 a.m. seminars: Chardonnay, French cuisine, steak cooking. Italian wines and more; $40 each.

Noon to 4 p.m.: Grand Tasting - Tasting of 150 wines, accompanied by appetizers and small plates; $100.

7 p.m.: Party of Senses, outdoor beach party with cooking by Outback restaurants; $35.

10 p.m.: After Party - Vodka and small plates at Cafe Alma, 260 First Ave. S, Suite 100, St. Petersburg; $40.

[Last modified May 15, 2007, 17:32:59]