A lovely buzz lingers after food festival

The Palm Beach Food & Wine Festival wrapped up with two packed foodie events: a sublime dinner at Buccan, starring James Beard Award-winning and -nominated chefs from the South, and the grand tasting, featuring a hotly contested chefs’ throwdown.

If the festival’s tribute dinner at The Breakers was a well-tuned chamber concert, the "Beard Down South" dinner at Buccan two nights later was a rollicking, free-wheeling jam session – in the key of pork.

From Dean James Max’s (3800 Ocean, Singer Island) creamy chestnut soup to Clay Conley’s (Buccan) short rib empanada to Julie Petrakis’ (The Ravenous Pig, Winter Park) creme caramel with an Earl Grey Tuile, the dishes represented the rarefied essence of Southern comfort. The great crescendo moment came with Stephen Stryjewski’s (Cochon, New Orleans) pork shoulder with rice and gravy, so decadently porcine and perfect.

On the final night, at the festival’s Grand Tasting, three local chefs competed in a chefs’ throwdown a la Food Network Chopped (in fact, Chopped judge and chef Scott Conant joined food blogger extraordinaire and former Post food editor Jan Norris and I on the judges’ panel). The secret ingredient: Creekstone Farms’ beef tenderloin.

Last year’s defending champ, chef Roy Villacrusis (Kapow, Boca Raton), took home the $5,000 check for a second year, narrowly beating chef Charlie Soo (Talay Thai, Palm Beach Gardens) and personal chef Peter Ziegelmeier. Villacrusis says the prize will help pay for his dream wedding.

Read more in the pbpulse.