What do you get when you combine one world-famous chef, a beautiful Miami evening, a stunning, over-the-top hotel, and tables and tables of fire-grilled meats and vegetables? A spectacular dinner. Add that the chef is the unbelievable Francis Mallmann and the hotel is the dazzling Faena Miami Beach {3201 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach; 305.534.8800}, and you have a night that’s beyond compare.
On Thursday, February 21, 2019, Francis Mallmann, the chef and restaurateur behind Faena’s Los Fuegos by Francis Mallmann {3201 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach; 786.655.5610}, welcomed Miami’s finest to wine and dine under the stars at his unofficial festival event, “An Evening with Francis Mallmann—Asado Dome Dinner.” We were so honored to be among them!
In town for the 18th-Annual Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival (SOBEWFF), South America’s “Master of Fire”—known across the globe for his passionate spirit, rustic ingredients, and open-flame culinary techniques—delighted us all with an asado, the meat-centric BBQs of South America Mallmann is famous for. Taking it one step further, he led guests on a sensory journey by constructing his signature six-foot wire dome, on which he used fire and traditional Patagonian cooking methods to roast hanging Bone-In Rib-Eye, Fresh Whole Salmon, Organic Chicken, and other meats and proteins to peak smokiness, succulence and melt-in-your-mouth tenderness. All around the dome, long tables were piled high with any side you could crave: like different salads, charred whole carrots, Vegetables ‘Rescoldo,’ Mallmann’s famous Domino Potatoes, and more.
And to answer your next question, yes… it was all as delicious as it sounds.

As if the long wooden tables dotted with deep red roses, all in the hotel’s enchanting Path of the Warrior, weren’t enough, a live band set the ambiance with seductive songs that kept guests swaying like Miami Beach palm trees in the wind. Well-dressed waiters swirled around the courtyard with Spanish-inspired Kalimotxo cocktails, glasses of Faena’s small-batch Malbec and Torrontes Argentine wines, and at the end of the night, dessert. Even then, fire and indulgence was still the theme. We all enjoyed a perfectly-charred ‘Panqueque’ de Dulce de Leche dessert with fire-roasted pineapple, offering a sweet ending to a sweet first night of SOBEWFF 2019.
Happy dining!
By Jennifer Agress | Miami Editor