VeritageMiami’s Spring Edition Raises More Than $300,000

Benefiting United Way Center for Excellence in Early Education

VeritageMiami, presented by City National Bank, held its Spring Edition Interactive Dinner at JW Marriott Marquis Miami. The 600 guests in attendance, helped raise more than $300,000 to benefit the United Way Center for Excellence in Early Education – an innovative educational and professional learning initiative dedicated to elevating the quality of early care and education in Miami-Dade and beyond.

W. Allen Morris of The Allen Morris Company is once again the VeritageMiami chair, dubbed the Marquis du Vin, alongside his wife, June Morris, the Marquesa du Vin. Spring Edition co-chairs include: Lisa and Victor Mendelson, Lea and Craig Rasile, and Jo and John Sumberg.

Betty Cortina-Weiss and Lyn Farmer, VeritageMiami director, emceed the one-night Spring Edition Interactive Dinner, which featured an exciting lineup of local chefs from INDULGE magazine’s annual food edition: Alex Chang of Vagabond Restaurant & Bar, Justin Flit of Proof Pizza & Pasta, Bradley Kilgore of Alter, Brian Nasajon of Beaker & Gray, Julia Ning of Phuc Yea and Nicole Votano of Dirt. The chefs teamed up, two per course, to guide guests as they prepared the delicious three-course meal designed exclusively for the event: veal cheek and foie gras dumplings with a local vegetable salad of shaved heirloom carrots, asparagus, spring onions, breakfast radishes and fennel, topped with Florida rock shrimp and a Dr. Pepper and black vinegar dipping sauce, by Ning and Votano; gemelli pasta with hon shimeji mushrooms, purple basil, gremolata and uni butter, by Flit and Nasajon; and finally an umeboshi-glazed pork belly with pickled

vegetables on a bed of ajo blanco and dashi-poached turnip pureé, by Chang and Kilgore. Wine Spectator Magazine curated specially selected Zonin 1821 Prosecco and Viña San Pedro wines to pair with each course. Guests also had the help of talented Johnson & Wales University students who served as sous chefs at each table. Dessert bites were created by JW Marriot Marquis Miami chefs and were paired with Mandarine Napoléon.

Joining City National Bank as Spring Edition sponsors are: American Airlines, and Celebrity Cruise Lines at the Cabernet Level; Bank of America, Bilzin Sumberg, Carnival Foundation, Cherry Bekaert LLP, Deloitte, and Johnson & Wales University at the Chardonnay level; and, Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, LNR and Ryder System at the Rosé level. Spring Edition Patrons include: Linda and Michael Bittel, Annelies and Jossy Da Costa Gomez, Colleen and Richard Fain, Nelly and Miguel Farra, Melinda and Jorge Gonzalez, Lisa and Victor Mendelson, Jeffrey Miller, Lea and Craig Rasile.

Joining City National Bank as Late Harvest sponsors are: American Airlines, Bank of America, Carnival Foundation, Celebrity Cruise Lines, and Greenberg Traurig at the Cellar Master level; Baptist Health South Florida, Deloitte, Johnson & Wales University and Ryder System at the Cooper level; and Bilzin Sumberg, Covanta Dade Renewable Energy LLC, EY, Global Resource Registry, and Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau at the Sommelier level. Trustees include: Linda and Michael Bittel, Annelies and Jossy Da Costa Gomez, Colleen and Richard Fain, Nelly and Miguel Farra, Melinda and Jorge Gonzalez, Lisa and Victor Mendelson, Carlos Migoya, Jeffrey Miller, June and Allen Morris, Susan and Bob Norton, Sonia and Nestor Plana, Oscar Suarez, Richard Yulman, and Judy and John Zeder.

For more information or to purchase tickets for VeritageMiami’s Late Harvest, running October 5 – 9, 2016, please visit www.veritagemiami.com. For sponsorship opportunities contact Mercedes Garcia at 305.646.7029 or info@veritagemiami.com.