South Florida "Foodie" or Dining Club?

[YosemiteSam]

I'm curious if anyone is aware of a South Florida dining out club or organization? What I am thinking of is a group of folks who love to eat out who get together monthly for a dining bacchanal where much wine and food is enjoyed at a top local restaurant, and perhaps some interaction with the chef/sommelier/owner etc. I could also imagine a wine distributor or food purveyor taking part as well featuring their wares to an influential group of opinion leaders like those on this board.

I remember seeing something on Top Chef Miami about the local chapter of The Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, Bailliage de Miami Beach. However, those folks seemed a little pretentious with their medals and ribbons around their necks (sorry if anyone on here is a member).

There are a lot of South Florida networking groups that meet at restaurants (like French Tuesdays), but those seem to be more about the clubbing than the food.

I guess what I would like to find is a group of like-minded folks who love good food and drink that gets together to enjoy the same and to discuss other food goings on in the area.

Anyone know of such a group? And if so, can I get invited? :)

By the way, I hope this topic is appropriate for this board, I sometimes get confused as to where to post things and the moderators move it elsewhere - so I hope I didn't violate some type of organizational rule.

[moonsea]

here's the link to the Miami Cooking - Laughing - Wine and fun group on meetup.com
http://cooking.meetup.com/450/

[makymark02]

There is a website that has a dinner once a month
http://www.southfloridadines.com/asp/...

[Foodfroggy]

I have had a hard time finding decent dining clubs too, but try below link, if it does not meet your expectations you can always start one & my friends & I will be more than happy to join:
http://diningout.meetup.com/cities/us...

[rikkikm]

I've organized the Tampa Dining Out meetup for more than 2 1/2 years with lots of success. Hopefully your area has some active ones.

[non sequitur]

I'm thinking some board members should maybe arrange to meet over a dinner mentioned in another recent thread: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/525597 (the "paradigm table" at Neomi's @ Trump). I wrote for more information today and received this reply:

"Thank you for your interest in Paradigm. Briefly, it is an interactive dinner that we host each Thursday night. It is by reservation only and we are capping attendance at 10 guests for each dinner. Typically we will produce 7 to 11 courses during the evening and often times the chefs will come to explain each course and the techniques behind it. If you are interested in the future of cuisine, this is a great opportunity. The dinners start promptly at 7pm and the cost is 85.00++ per person. As for wine service, we have a full list available and can bring in a particular wine if you’d like something special. I’ve attached the menu from this week. Please let me know if you’d like to make reservations or if you have any particular questions that I might help you with."
Steven Rauscher | Director of Food & Beverage
305.692.5645 | [e-mail]

$85 plus tax and tip is a once-a-year pricetag for me, but if you have to share a table of 10-12, it would be nice to share it with some of our more prolific contributors. If each pair brought a bottle of wine, we'd probably also have critical mass for some good pairings (though the whole endeavour would benefit from Frodesnor's coordination and prior insight).

[Frodnesor]

I was there for the inaugural night Thursday and will write it up soon (great experience). I'll need to look at my schedule and the weather reports to see if a chowdown is in order. If it's not next Thursday, I already know the following one is out for me.

[ankimo]

great idea!

[non sequitur]

I've been getting event emails that include events held by the "gourmet club". Many of it's events are at the Addison steakhouse and an Italian place in mizner park. That might be something for you to look at.

[travlnmike]

count me in during the season if you organize such a group and it meets on sundays or mondays (when people in the restaurant business usually take off)

[non sequitur]

The site that sends me the event e-mails I mentioned in my earlier post is:
http://www.localwineevents.com

You sign up for daily or weekly e-mails of the city of your choosing, and it forwards notices of events such as the one I mentioned.

[ldkelley]

Thanks for the link. We may have to go look into some of these.