Unlike that other South Beach food festival, there’s fewer Hollywood celebrities distracting attendees from the flavors at the South Beach Seafood Festival. It’s all about the food here — especially crabs. Kicking off right at the start of stone crab season, this festival consists of five days and many, many courses of Miami’s best seafood cooked by the city’s top chefs. It warms up with ticketed dinners at places like Jesse’s Rooms, a crab spot once attended by Al Capone and Frank Sinatra, before 16 chefs try to out mussel each other (pun intended) for 10,000 dollars at the Chef Showdown. The white caps pull out the stops for the audience, who act as the first round of judges. In the past, chefs have used Mariachi bands, Miami Heat dancers, and acrobats in their live cooking demonstrations. The main event is Saturday’s big tent festival: four blocks of pop-up seafood cafés, open bars, games and live music. Restaurants lining the streets include Joe’s Stone Crab, RED South Beach, The Lobster SHACK, Pubbelly Sushi, Ella’s Oyster Bar, Tacos and Tattoos, Stiltsville Fish Bar.
The Specs
- Over 15,000 people attend the South Beach Seafood Festival.
- Tickets are purchased per event. Prices range from $50 for the Saturday festival to 500 dollars for the dinner at Joe’s Stone Crab. VIP tickets are available for the Saturday festival for 150 dollars.
- You can check out the South Beach Seafood Festival lineup of events here