Easter Seals South Florida’s 28th

Annual Festival of Chefs – “Where Culinary & Fine Arts Meet” – is one of South Florida’s longest-standing food and wine charity events. Festival of Chefs will be held on November 9th at beautiful Nikki Beach at 6:30 p.m.

This year the Festival of Chefs will welcome Dena Marino of MC Kitchen as Celebrity Chef. Marino hails from Aspen where she gained reputation as the chef of the much respected D19, Ajax Tavern and Ellina. Touted as a “hot young chef” (2001), the media circus surrounding her food has made her the star act. With Aspen Magazine setting the media standards high, Marino has continuously delivered with accolades from Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, La Cucina Italiana, Wine Spectator, New York Times and Post. She has appeared on several episodes of the Food Network’s acclaimed series “Follow That Food with Gordon Elliott”; Tom Colicchio’s “Eat Drink or Die” series and in January of 2010 she challenged Masaharu Morimoto to “Battle Fig” on “Iron Chef America”. When Marino is not in the kitchen she enjoys watching the Miami Heat, practicing her right hook, soaking up some sun and spending time with her husband Marcus and son, Cash.

At Festival of Chefs, guests will enjoy the finest dishes from Miami’s top restaurants. In addition to a fabulous multi-course feast, guests will enjoy sampling wines and spirits from the world’s finest producers. Enhancing the culinary focus of the event is the amazing silent auction featuring fine art, jewelry, fine wines, dining, travel packages, and more. Proceeds from the event will benefit Easter Seals South Florida’s Culinary Arts High School, a vocational training program for young adults ages 14 through 22 with Autism and other disabilities.

Tickets are $125, which must be purchased in advance at www.festivalofchefs.com, or $150 at the door. Additionally, there is a wide range of sponsorship opportunities available for Festival of Chefs. For more information, contact Christina Jacomino, Special Events & Marketing Associate, at 305-547-4719 or by email at CJacomino@SFL.EasterSeals.com.

About Easter Seals South Florida

Easter Seals South Florida has been a leading provider of disability services since its founding in 1942. With more than 70 years of service in Miami Dade County, Easter Seals provides vital programs, and services. Our mission is to change the way the world defines and views disabilities by making profound, positive differences in people’s lives every day.

Mission Statement: To change the way the world defines and views disabilities by making profound, positive differences in people’s lives every day.

Current programs include:
• Adult day care services, and in-home respite for those living with Alzheimer’s and dementia.
• The Child Development Center that provides early childhood education, and early intervention therapies for young children with special needs.
• The Wayne & Nicole Cypen School which serves elementary, and middle school age children with disabilities.
• A Culinary Arts High School, after school program, and a summer camp for special needs children in our community.
• Six Head Start Centers that prepare children who are living in poverty, with the same level of education as their counterparts, helping them to be kindergarten ready by age 5.

Free After School Program: Free hands-on culinary arts after school program and summer camp for young adults with disabilities. Participants will have fun leaning and building their skills in the kitchen including baking, healthy cooking, catering, and small event planning. Instruction is provided by the chef instructor and certified teachers. There is a 1:3 teacher to student ratio with caring and experienced staff. Homework and tutoring assistance is also available in this program. Participants will have the opportunity to showcase their skills at special events, and develop skills their families will be proud of. The program is offered Monday through Thursday from 2:30pm to 6:00pm.