This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Fresh From Florida. All opinions are 100% mine.For those focused on living a healthy lifestyle, easy access to healthy, nutritious food is essential. Florida residents are fortunate to have an abundance of locally grown, fresh produce at our fingertips and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has made supporting our local farms and eating healthier even easier with their Fresh From Florida logo.This distinctive logo (pictured above) can be found on produce in your local grocery store and on the menus of some of your favorite restaurants, indicating the product or dish contains fresh Florida-grown produce. Only members of the Florida Agricultural Promotional Campaign (FAPC) can participate in this program which benefits both small and large farms alike. I recently had the pleasure of dining at one local restaurant that is passionate about supporting local farmers and excited about participating in this program.
Burt & Max's Bar & Grille opened in Delray Beach in 2013, representing a collaboration between restaurant moguls Dennis Max and Burt Rapoport who've been tantalizing the tastebuds of Palm Beach county diners for over three decades. Similar to its sister restaurant, the über-popular Max's Grille in east Boca Raton, Burt & Max's offers west Delray residents a neighborhood spot perfect for drinks with friends, date nights and special occasions. On the evening of my visit, I settled into a cozy booth across from the bar and had the pleasure of speaking with Executive Chef Dan Moore.Born in Thailand, Moore's passion for food was fostered by a childhood spent in the rich culinary cultures of Singapore, the Philippines and Italy. After receiving his culinary degree from Rhode Island's Johnson and Wales University, Moore set his sights on the United States, working in restaurants in Boston, Washington DC, New York, Minnesota and North Carolina. His diverse experiences continue to inform his cooking today, "I love to incorporate my experience with these cultures into my menus, especially when working with all the fresh produce we have here in Florida."
It was difficult to select from the fifteen fabulous Fresh From Florida options on the Burt & Max menu, but I ended up sampling three beginning with the Heirloom Tomato & Local Burrata Salad with balsamic glaze, Hawaiian sea salt, chiffonade of basil and California olive oil. The colorful heirloom tomatoes were perfectly ripe and juicy and their tomatoey tang was the perfect complement to the delightfully creamy burrata which was also sourced from a local producer. The pop of green from the basil, drizzle of balsamic and sprinkle of sea salt finished this dish beautifully while showcasing some of Florida's bounty at its best.
Next was Chef Moore's Slow-Braised Beef Short Ribs with whipped potatoes, sauteed peas, carrots, pearl onions, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, shallots and garlic with natural jus. The mouthwatering presentation featured the decadent short ribs served atop a mound of creamy, whipped potatoes surrounded by Florida grown vegetables. The dish was cooked and seasoned to perfection and the fork-tender ribs barely necessitated the use of a knife. Accompanied by a glass of full-bodied J. Lohr Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon, it was the perfect dish for a chilly South Florida evening!
Lastly, I sampled the Roasted Vegetable Wood-fired Pizza which had a decidedly Mediterranean flare featuring baba ganoush, sun-dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, goat cheese, and mozzarella with a dollop of lemon-dressed spicy arugula piled in the center. The various colors, textures and flavors synergized beautifully, making this dish not only visually appealing but also incredibly delicious and perhaps the perfect combination of comfort food and healthy ingredients. The pizza also paired very nicely with Etude's medium-bodied Lyric Pinot Noir from California with its lovely dark fruit and spice.
Next time you're in the mood to dine out, seek out Chef Moore's fabulous Fresh From Florida dishes at Burt & Max's Bar & Grille. Between the delicious food, friendly staff and welcoming atmosphere this restaurant is sure to become a local favorite.Burt & Max's Bar & Grille9089 W. Atlantic Avenue#100Delray Beach, FL 33446561.638.6380Cheers,
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This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Fresh From Florida. All opinions are 100% mine. For those focused on living a healthy lifestyle, easy access to healthy, nutritious food is essential. Florida residents are fortunate to have an abundance of locally grown, fresh produce at our fingertips and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services... Read More
The post Dine “Fresh From Florida” at Burt & Max’s Bar & Grille in Delray Beach appeared first on The Glamorous Gourmet.
Whether you're planning on enjoying a mouthwatering Steak au Poivre a Deux this Valentine's Day or some other delicious dish, the indulgence should culminate in an amazing dessert like this decadent Red Velvet Cake. Not only am I obsessed with the delicious flavor of the bright red cake slathered with cream cheese frosting and topped with crunchy chopped pecans, this recipe has sentimental meaning for me as well.
Growing up, my family used to spend time every Summer in Captiva Island, Florida. After long days spent on the beach, in the pool or out deep sea fishing, we'd pile our sunburned selves into the family car and head straight for a restaurant called The Bubble Room.
The Bubble Room was THE place to dine in the sleepy little town on Florida's west coast and as a child it was nothing short of magical! The restaurant was a colorful, whimsical cottage painted in bright pastel pinks, reds and greens and covered from floor to ceiling in vintage memorabilia from the 1920's, 30's and 40's. A profusion of Christmas lights and related decorations including a classic toy choo choo train that whistled its way through the various dining rooms every few minutes also made it clear that "it's always Christmas at the Bubble Room!"
In keeping with the theme, the menu also featured dishes named after singers and actors from the same time period including the Henny Young One, Eddie Fisherman, Prime Rib Weissmuller, Moon Over Miami and many, many more.
Guiding you through the experience was your very own Bubble Scout, the title given to the Bubble Room's enthusiastic team of waiters and waitresses who donned Boy Scout-inspired uniforms displaying merit patches earned for accomplishments such as committing the restaurant's extensive list of delicious, unique cakes to memory.
Which brings me to my favorite thing about the Bubble Room: the Red Velvet Cake! This bright red, triple layer cake was finished with an unbelievably delicious, cream cheese frosting yet, as much as I adored it, I was never able to eat the cake right after dinner. Between their completely addictive Bubble Bread and humongous portion sizes, I was always too full by the time dessert rolled around.
So I would take my piece of cake home, pop it in the fridge overnight and enjoy it, perfectly chilled, for breakfast in the morning. Yeah, not the healthiest thing, I know - but it was pure heaven and definitely one of my favorite food memories of ALL time.
Unfortunately, following my parent’s divorce, our annual Summer trips stopped and decades passed as I moved out West to Colorado for grad school and then back East to New York. Both places were worlds away from my childhood Summer memories and life marched on.
Eventually however, I found my way back to South Florida and shortly after getting married, my husband and I spent the weekend in Captiva and I was so looking forward to returning to The Bubble Room. Thankfully, after almost 20 years since my last visit, the Red Velvet Cake was every bit as delicious as I remembered! This auspicious reunion actually inspired me to track down the recipe so I could recreate this delicious cake any time, any place.
Luckily, the recipe was featured in the Junior League of Fort Myers cookbook and I'm thrilled to be able to share it here with you in this post! And if you’ve never experienced Red Velvet Cake before you might be wondering, where on earth did they dream that up and what’s the big deal?
While no one's sure where Red Velvet Cake originated, it's rumored to have made its debut at New York's glamorous Waldorf Astoria Hotel in the 1930's. Other accounts place its beginnings in Toronto at the elite Eaton's department store. The South also lays claim to the original Red Velvet Cake but what's more certain is that John Adams, owner of Adams Extract company, had the cake at the Waldorf and decided to market it to the people of Texas to sell more of his company's red food coloring and vanilla extract.
His efforts paid off and today this cake has become über-popular and for good reason! While scoffed at by culinary legends including James Beard and Irma Rombauer, there's just something utterly delicious about this unusual red cake and its heavenly cream cheese frosting.
Although a little time consuming, this recipe is actually pretty easy to make and SO completely worth it. A few helpful hints to keep in mind when making the recipe include:
I HIGHLY recommend wearing black because once you open that red food coloring, anything goes!
You might also want to invest in three 9-inch cake pans so you can cook all three layers at the same time instead of using the same pan three different times.
When frosting the cake, be careful not let any red crumbs get into the beautiful white frosting. Lay down a crumb coat and then go back over it to build it up to desired thickness.
I'd also recommend chilling the cake for a few hours before serving it to allow the cake and frosting to set up.
While I usually top the cake with chopped pecans, for Valentine's Day I used a heart-shaped cookie cutter and some red sanding sugar to make the heart design on top of the icing.
I hope you enjoy this wonderful Red Velvet Cake with your Valentine this year and hopefully create some special memories of your own! xo
print recipe"THE BUBBLE ROOM’S RED VELVET CAKE"
Author: The Bubble Room | Original recipe from the Junior League of Fort Myers
Ingredients
For the Cake:
3 3/4 cups self-rising flour
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons cocoa
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons vinegar
2 1/4 cups vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/3 cup red food coloring (NOT a typo, you will need 1/3 cup or approximately 3 ounces)
For the Frosting:
16 ounces cream cheese
2 lbs. powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
1 cup chopped pecans
Instructions
) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
) Sift together dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking soda + cocoa) in a large bowl.
) Add eggs, vinegar, oil, buttermilk, vanilla and food coloring and mix well.
) Spoon into 3 greased and floured 9-inch cake pans (approximately 3 cups per pan)
) Bake 45-60 minutes or until edges of cakes pull away from pan. (Check at 45 minutes because they will probably be done.)
) After cooling for 10 minutes (no more, I don't know why), remove the cakes to wire racks to cool completely.
) Meanwhile, beat butter and cream cheese in mixer until fluffy.
) Slowly add in powdered sugar and mix until fully incorporated and smooth.
) Layer the frosting between each layer of the cake, and liberally over the top and sides. Top with chopped pecans.
If you’re planning on indulging in our Steak au Poivre a Deux this Valentine’s Day, why not continue the indulgence into dessert with this deliciously decadent recipe for Red Velvet Cake. Not only am I obsessed with the delicious flavor of the bright red cake slathered with cream cheese frosting and topped with crunchy chopped pecans, this recipe has sentimental... Read More
The post Valentine’s Day Sweets: The Bubble Room’s Red Velvet Cake! appeared first on The Glamorous Gourmet.
Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and if you’re looking for the perfect dish to seduce your Valentine – look no further. Our recipe for Steak au Poivre à Deux and Roasted Rosemary Garlic Potatoes paired with a deliciously seductive red wine will ensure an evening of endless possibilities! Steak au Poivre is a classic French dish that consists... Read More
The post Valentine’s Day Deliciousness: Steak au Poivre à Deux & Roasted Rosemary Garlic Potatoes! appeared first on The Glamorous Gourmet.
When it comes to charity wine events, few have the caché of the Naples Winter Wine Festival. Widely considered one of the most successful in the U.S., the event is held every January at the tony Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort on Florida's balmy west coast.
Well-heeled, philanthropically minded patrons pay $10,000 per couple to attend a weekend of spectacular food and wine events featuring the industry's brightest stars and most revered legends. This glamorous event is held for a wonderful cause and, since its inception in 2001, has raised over $146 million for the Naples Children and Education Foundation which has benefited over 40 local children's charities.
The 2016 Naples Winter Wine Festival kicked off a weekend of vinous revelry with a very special tasting and luncheon commemorating the 40th anniversary of The Judgment of Paris, a wine tasting held in Paris in 1976 that changed the wine world forever. The tasting pitted a selection of France's most highly regarded wines against a selection of American wines which, at the time, weren't well-known outside of California's west coast.
Steven Spurrier + George Taber chatting before the tasting
In a surprising defeat, the American wines trounced the French, forever establishing the U.S. as a vinous force to be reckoned with.
The Vintage Cellar, a Celebration of The Judgment of Paris featured a retrospective tasting of vintages of the fêted American wines (the Chateau Montelena Chardonnay and Stag's Leap Wine Cellars S.L.V. Estate Cabernet Sauvignon) followed by a luncheon at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort's restaurant, Lemonía.
The tasting was moderated by the very men involved in this historic event 40 years ago: Steven Spurrier, event organizer and proprietor of L'Academie du Vin; Bo Barrett, CEO and Master winemaker of Chateau Montelena; Ted Baseler President and CEO of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars; and George Taber, editor for Time Magazine who's coverage of the event brought it to national attention.
The service of these special wines was executed by a bevy of Master Sommeliers and many notable wine industry names were in attendance including Emily and Paul Michael of Peter Michael Winery, the Festival's 2016 Honored Vintner; Jean-Charles Boisset of the Boisset Collection; and Violet Grgich of Grgich Hills Estate who's father, Mike Grgich, was the winemaker for Chateau Montelena at the time of the tasting and crafted the legendary winning Chardonnay.
The day of the Naples tasting, Englishman Steven Spurrier, nattily dressed in a cream-colored linen suit with pink shirt and matching pocket square, kicked off the talk by recounting his introduction to the world of wine and sharing some very memorable experiences in the vineyards and cellars of Spain, Germany, France and Portugal.
Spurrier and his wife eventually settled in Paris where they purchased a wine shop, "I was the first...to sell the red wines of Guigal, Chateau Beaucastel and Chateau Rayas. I was constantly on the lookout for wines that spoke firmly of where they came from."
He also began hosting a variety of wine tastings featuring new producers which is where the idea for the Paris tasting came from, "The plan was to select wines only from the newish, boutique wineries to show the tasters the cutting edge of California."
Spurrier never suspected how the results would forever impact the wine world. He also voiced his disdain for a certain film made about the tasting (for my review of Bottle Shock, please click here). He was, however, quite excited about another film slated for release in July 2017 entitled The Judgment of Paris which will strive to provide a more accurate account of the details surrounding the event (please watch video above for Spurrier’s complete talk).
Next, the dapper and distinguished George Taber spoke, impressing upon us how close he'd come to missing the tasting altogether. Even when he arrived, it wasn't until he was given a score card featuring the names and order of the wines during the tasting and listening to the judges' comments (the judges tasted the wines blind) that he realized he had a story, "I heard one of the French judges exclaim while sampling a wine, 'Ah, the majesty of France' but when I looked at the score card I could see he was drinking the Freemark Abbey Cabernet from California!"
Taber went on to exclaim, "[the tasting] was a turning point in California wine...it definitely brought up everybody's game."
The affable Bo Barrett expounded on the importance of the tasting following the ravages of Prohibition on the California wine industry, "[the judgment of Paris] was the nail in the coffin of Prohibition." On his own contribution, "I was just a soldier, twenty years old and there were only three of us working in the cellar making just $3.15 an hour! It was the right wine at the right place on the right day...but we had the dream."
On his legacy, "like a mason, I look back on my work which has stood the test of time and I'm proud of that."
A tasting of the Chateau Montelena Chardonnay from the 1992, 1998, 2001, 2004 and 2008 vintages (all poured from magnums) revealed wines which, across the board, had aged with incredible grace. They were still fresh and lively with ample fruit and layers of delicious flavor. Older vintages expressed concentrated notes of baked apple, butterscotch and spice while the younger wines were rife with lemon verbena, apple tart and spiced pear balanced by a lovely minerality.
While not a part of the actual 1976 event, Ted Baseler, President and CEO of Ste. Michelle Wine Estates current owner of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, has enjoyed an esteemed thirty year career in the wine industry. The bottle which won the competition was then-owner Warren Winiarski's first vintage and it was only the vineyard's second leaf - very young by vineyard standards!
Baseler proudly informed us a bottle of the winning Cabernet, the 1973 Stag's Leap S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon, is on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, DC as one of the "101 Objects that Made America"(don't worry, the winning Chateau Montelena Chardonnay is there too).
Our special tasting of the Estate S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon included the 1983, 1993, 1998, 2008 and 2012 vintages and revealed wines which had definitely stood the test of time. The older vintages still possessed plenty of tannins and acid while dried fruits such as currant and cherry were accompanied by notes of earth, feu de bois, cocoa and spice. Conversely, the younger 2008 and 2012 vintages exhibited gorgeous layers of lush, ripe dark fruit, dark chocolate and coffee which were delightfully balanced and elegant.
A Q&A session at the end of the tasting revealed even more interesting insights from our speakers. When asked what has changed most in winemaking since 1976, Barrett replied, "Fruit handling and access to better cultivars are probably the biggest changes for us since then. The grapes picked for the Chardonnay that won the tasting were picked mid-afternoon and now we realize the importance of picking at night."
When asked about the upcoming film, The Judgment of Paris set to film this Summer, Baseler added, "the new film will tell the story of the of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, much like Bottle Shock focused on the Barretts and Chateau Montelena. It should be released in mid-2017."
Someone also asked why the French judges at the tasting were blindsided by the results to which Spurrier responded, "At the time of the tasting the judges knew the wines of their particular regions and weren't familiar with US wines. It was almost a social event for them." Spurrier also cheekily added, "You could also sum it up in one sentence, 'How a Croat and a Pole made history thanks to an Englishman!'"
This very special event was the perfect start to yet another successful weekend in Naples for a wonderful cause. In addition to the tasting and luncheon, the festival also featured sixteen vintner dinners held in elegant private homes, the legendary Great Expectations auction and a Celebration Brunch. For more information on the Naples Winter Wine Festival please click here.
When it comes to charity wine events, few have the caché of the Naples Winter Wine Festival. Widely considered one of the most successful in the U.S., the event is held every January at the tony Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort on Florida’s balmy west coast. Well-heeled, philanthropically minded patrons pay $10,000 per couple to attend a weekend of spectacular food and wine... Read More
The post The 40th Anniversary of “The Judgment of Paris” Celebrated at The Naples Winter Wine Festival! appeared first on The Glamorous Gourmet.
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