South Beach “gatekeeper” and “it” man Lee Brian Shrager makes the South Beach Wine and Food Festival as haute as it is. Though that’s nothing less than expected since Shrager is a Haute Living regular himself. His bigger ticket events such as the Burger Bash and Daniel Boulud’s Tribute feast are already sold out, and don’t even think about being caught at the fest without a ticket.
Even if you know him personally, the chances of getting into an uber-exclusive event now are slim to none (we’re leaning more towards the “none” part). In a recent interview with Eater.com, he said that he’s had to reject VIPs and their BFFs because there simply aren’t any tickets left (and we’re thinking that doesn’t happen to these VIPs often).
Shrager also said he can be found at the Bubble Q and Best of the Best on Friday nights (let the stalking commence). He’s also betting that the big headlines from the festival will be all about Burger Bash’s soon-to-be winner, though we can’t be sure it’ll be bigger than Mario Batali’s potty mouth or Paula Deen’s pants on the floor. Because let’s face it, that was pretty big (and surprising on Paula Deen’s part). If that doesn’t give you the go-ahead to at least try and go to the festival this year, we don’t know what will.
Hey, don’t lose faith: we hear Sunday’s Grand Tasting, Saturday’s Barilla Interactive Lunch with Scott Conant, and Midnight Amore Saturday night at Scarpetta with Conant, Rocco DiSpirito and Alex Guarnaschelli, are all still available. But hurry, if it’s anything like rapid sell-out time of Shrager’s other events, they’re already sold out.
