Sugarcane Raw Bar Grill's Chef Timon Balloo will be honored this evening at his alma mater, Johnson & Wales University North Miami, and they'll hold a dinner to recognize him as the school's Distinguished Visiting Chef. The cost is $85 and proceeds will go to a scholarship fund in the university's College of Culinary Arts.

"It's going to be my first time back to the school in almost eight years ... You know, it went from being two blocks and a parking lot to a few blocks now and a parking lot," he said. "It's really nice to see it grow into an entity in Florida."

Balloo will even be cooking at his event. He has prepared a five-course tasting menu and pre-event activities included demonstrations for the students and working seminars earlier this week. "It's so the students can see what the chef's capabilities are after leaving such a great institution," Balloo said.
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​South Floridians in need of a job can now look to Denny's restaurant and the Rebuild Your Life Project for some hope. Two Denny's locations are holding mass hiring events tomorrow in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

The chain is looking to fill several dozen part-time, full-time and management jobs in 14 of its South Florida locations.
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via uncrate.com

"It takes a Bad Jew to make good BBQ."

​'Tis the season to celebrate your inner Jew and think Kosher barbeque sauce. Next@19th is a center committed to engaging the Jewish community of South Florida. Next Wednesday, December 21, at 8 p.m., the center will host its second annual Musical Chanukah Party. Mazel tov!

Creators of Bad Jew BBQ, a certified Kosher and dairy-free barbecue sauce, will give out a bottle of their product to each ticket holder. They'll also donate their signature sauce to the Jewish Community Services Kosher Food Bank.
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Atmixtphoto/Creative Commons

Drink beer, wear a Santa hat. How merry are you?

​Tomorrow night, take time out from the malls and decking the halls because it's time for a holiday bar crawl. (That's our pathetic attempt at rhyming, by the way.)

Miami Crawls is hosting a South Miami holiday bar crawl tomorrow. Registration starts at 3 p.m. and the crawl begins at 4 p.m. Start at Sports Grill South Miami and drink your way to Bougainvillea's Old Florida Tavern. All in all, you'll visit six different bars and taverns, where you'll be offered a free beer or shot at each location.

Here's the official schedule of merriment. (Extra points if you can name all of Santa's reindeer after the last bar.)
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Gulfstream via Facebook

There is only one place you'll be able to enjoy a little vino, a little food, and a thoroughbred or three. Gulftstream Park and The Village at Gulfstream Park are hosting Wine Walk for Retired Thoroughbreds tomorrow, beginning at 6 p.m. ​Says David Joseph, Wine Walk rep, "We're hoping to make this an annual event." Why not?

At $10 bucks a pop (kids are welcome and free!) anyone can enjoy the charitable festivities. Guests are invited to sample from five different wine tasting stations and seven food areas peppered throughout the Village in Hallandale.
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​Camillus House has a lot to be thankful for on Thanksgiving, particularly for having food service director Frank Ferrara around to prepare its biggest meal of the year. With a little help, he expects to serve up to 1,000 turkey dinners today for needy families and individuals across Miami.

But cooking isn't his only forte. Aside from managing a staff of cooks and volunteers, and coordinating nearly a thousand meals on a daily basis at the shelter, he is also a writer, a teacher, and a certified tennis instructor. Oh yeah, he's also a retired New York City police officer of 21 years.

"And I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up," he says jokingly.

At the suggestion of a friend and a bit of indecisiveness over what to study in college, he signed up with the NYPD. But 21 years of service was merely a segue into his true calling of serving the public on its most basic level.
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Photo by Marguerite Gil

Thanksgiving distribution at Marlins Stadium.

​The yet-to-be-completed Marlins Stadium in Little Havana has had its share of controversy. But last week, the debates were set aside and charity prevailed. The Marlins hosted a celebratory Thanksgiving Meal Distribution afternoon. They partnered with several South Florida organizations including Farm Share (a non-profit food-bank, for recovery and distribution of surplus food for the hungry), which donated $75,000 worth of produce for the worthy event. Additional sponsors included Marlins Foundation, Hunt/Moss, A Joint Venture, Suffolk Construction, City of Miami, Miami-Dade County, CBS4/TV33, Neighbors 4 Neighbors, Winn-Dixie, Goya, Cafe Bustelo and Original Grandma's Style Merenguitos.
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Photo by Jonathan Brand

​It's not anything close to a five-star restaurant, but Occupy Miami feeds its campers (mostly) healthy, hearty and free, vegetarian meals. After all, occupiers gotta eat too!

Food mostly comes by way of donations. There's also a vegetable garden with tomatoes, peppers, beans, onions, sunflowers, papaya trees, lettuce, sweet squash along with other fruits and vegetables. An abandoned lot a few blocks away is being transformed into an urban garden. It's unclear whether the cops will kick 'em out before crops are harvested.
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All photos by Laine Doss

Michelle Bernstein with Common Threads students Cireh and Arieile.

​Last evening some of Miami's best chefs shared cuisine from around the world at the second annual World Festival Miami to benefit Common Threads.

The event at the Cruz Building in Coconut Grove featured great food, drinks and the cutest little chefs we've ever seen as students from Common Threads Miami acted as sous chefs to the likes of Timon Balloo (Sugarcane Raw Bar Grill), Jamie DeRosa (Tudor House), and Jason Schaan (Michy's).

Also on hand was South Beach Wine & Food Festival Director Lee Schrager, who hosted the charity auction, and event host Michelle Bernstein.
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Michelle Bernstein will host the World Festival to benefit Common Threads

​Coconut Grove's Cruz Building (in the old Christabelle's Quarter space) will turn into the United Nations for the second annual World Festival Miami tomorrow, November 15 to benefit Common Threads.

Chef Michelle Bernstein will host the event, which will feature cuisine from some of Miami's hottest chefs, including Timon Balloo (Sugarcane Raw Bar Grill), Sean Brasel (Meat Market), Jamie DeRosa (Tudor House), Joel Huff (Azul), and E. Michael Reidt (Area 31).

Bar Lab will provide cocktails and Lee Brian Schrager will host a live auction.

Short Order received a preview menu, which includes cuisine from Italy, France, Japan, Turkey, and Trinidad and Tobago, to name a few. Here's a list of who's cooking what:
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