MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — The South Beach Wine and Food Festival kicked off Thursday, grilling up tons of cool stuff for local influencers here in South Florida.
In Miami’s food scene, credibility is earned.
George Arango, aka Mr.Eats305, made his name putting Miami restaurants on the map.
“I’ve always loved food, from my grandmother’s cooking, which I always say was my first favorite restaurant, to the explosion of the food scene in Miami,” he said.
Samantha Schnur, whose Instagram page, @thenaughtyfork, has more than 2 million followers, built hers creating recipes people recreate at home.
Both are Miami natives and this year, they’re not in the crowd. They’re on the main stage.
“This is the biggest event that I’m hosting this year -- Naughty Bites, on Friday,” Schnur said. “So I think that’s really exciting.”
“Eats and Beats is happening this Saturday, February 21st at ZeyZey. And we curated a bunch of Miami true and true local staples, and places that I love,” Arango said.
And if Arango is bringing the beats, Schnur is bringing the heat.
From pre-med at Florida State University to full-time foodie, Schnur turned late-night college cravings into a culinary brand.
“COVID really jump started that part of my career because restaurants were closed, so I had no real opportunity to review them,” Schnur explained. “So my idea was to bring those restaurant dishes to life in the kitchen. So I started cooking them and teaching people how to cook them and learning along the way because I didn’t know what I was doing either.”
That leap of faith clearly paid off.
“I want to say it was the Big Mac Smash Tacos,” Schnur said about what caused her Instagram page to really blow up. “I woke up in the middle of the night (and) it had like 150 million views and The Rock had commented and was like, ‘This is my next cheat meal.’ I’m texting everyone at 3 in the morning, like ‘Wake up, The Rock commented!’”
And the star of the show is likely Schnur’s Naughty Burger, which is featured in her very first cookbook.
“It’s finally coming out March 10th, which I’m so excited for,” she said. “We’re serving the Naughty Burger at Burger Bash and at Naughty Bites, and it’s in my cookbook.”
For more information about the SOBEWFF, click here.
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