One of the nice things about a food function in fact any event held at the Fort Lauderdale/Broward Convention Center is that the room is so large that no matter how many people attend it never feels crowded there. So while at least 50 different restaurants and wineries were represented at the SOS (Share our Strength) Taste of the Nation annual food fest on May 11, there were no lines at each booth to taste the wonderful food and it never seemed overcrowded there.
Not all the representatives were restaurants by the way, but even the others served wonderful food. Whole foods company which will be coming to Palm Beach Gardens in a new 45,000 square foot store in September -- was there, serving Chimichurri Beef steak and Wheat Berries with Chili.
McCormick offered jerk shrimp and papaya relish, which was one of the hottest dishes around, surprising since a few of the booths there offered some kind of Caribbean spiced dishes. But McCormick seemed to be the only truly brave ones in that area. Happily, there were also plenty of wonderful American food, and the restaurants were generous about their portions. At least one restaurant, Gigi's Tavern in Mizner Center served an entire small 3-course meal with a green salad, a lobster salad, and chocolate truffles in pistachio. My favorite two American single offerings came from JB's on the Beach which served tasty and tender ribs marinated in a ginger and lemon, and then tea-smoked. The meat fell right off the ribs and happily, right into my mouth.
I was also delighted with the offering from a favorite restaurant of mine in Delray, Sol's Kitchen, a charming looking place with fantastic food, including the cured king salmon with spicy corn relish and spring onion sour cream that they served here. There were also plenty of luscious desert representatives there. For example, Celebrity Cheesecakes, which is wholesales to many Palm Beach clubs, offered a sampling of their key lime pie and other luscious cakes.
Right next to them, La Marina, in the Fort Lauderdale Marina Marriott insisted I try
their bread pudding. I demurred because I thought I didn't like bread pudding but this caramel-tasting dish totally changed my mind. Speaking of the Marriott (and my favorite in this area is the Delray one) a few other hotel restaurants were represented here as well. For example, the new Pelican Beach Resort in Fort Lauderdale, presented food from their North Ocean Grille Restaurant, as well as photos and information on their promising looking resort.
Finally, this is definitely a not-to-miss event next year and you can be sure they'll have it because it's not a one-shot. There were 400 of these events throughout the country (the New York one, by the way, costs twice as much as this and has the same number of restaurants). The SOS in the Fort Lauderdale SOS Taste of the Nation is supposed to stand for Share our Strength (an organization that supports local agencies involved in hunger relief and other humanitarian services) but it could also stand for Save our Strength-- to eat all these wonderful type of dishes at this party again next year.
