FOOD NETWORK JUDGE AND FAMED CHEF ALEX GUARNASCHELLI REFLECTS ON SOBEWFF AS SHE PREPARES TO BE HONORED AT THIS YEAR’S TRIBUTE DINNER.

Chef Alex Guarnaschelli PHOTO COURTESY OF GETTY IMAGES/NYCWFF

The Tribute Dinner is the pinnacle event of the highly anticipated Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival (@sobewffest). Chosen each year based on outstanding contribution to the food community, the dinner serves as one of the festival’s most coveted tickets. This year, the dinner will honor beloved chef and longtime SOBEWFF guest Alex Guarnaschelli (@guarnaschelli). As a recurring guest judge on Chopped, Beat Bobby Flay, Cooks vs. Cons and Bakers vs. Fakers, Guarnaschelli has become a household name, also lauded for her winning season on The Next Iron Chef: Redemption. In light of this year’s festivities and the honorary dinner, we chat with the chef on what it feels like to receive this accolade, what she’s most looking forward to and favorite events of the festival.

Rachael Ray and Alex Guarnaschelli PHOTO COURTESY OF GETTY IMAGES/NYCWFF

As a longtime participant of the festival, how does it feel to be the Tribute Dinner honoree this year?
I have participated in the festival for many years. I love what the festival stands for and supports. I also think it’s a unique moment when all Food Network talent can come together for an annual campfire of sorts. We bond. We share our cooking and stories with the public. It’s a privilege for everyone involved. I have cooked at many Tribute Dinners for others. I’m likely slightly more at ease cooking in the back and clapping for someone else. This is the highest honor for me. It feels like my second prom night!

Anne Burrell, Marcus Samuelsson, Michael Castellon, Guarnaschelli and Adam Richman attend NYCWFF’s 18th anniversary. PHOTO COURTESY OF GETTY IMAGES/NYCWFF

What are you most excited about?
I’m most excited to see what all the chef participants cook. I’m also really excited to do my own cooking demo. It’s a moment every year where I really get to connect with the public. Food is such a personal experience that we all share. We invite people into our homes, and by putting on the TV, people invite us into theirs. The festival is that but in real time and in person!

Alex Guarnaschelli poses with an event attendee during NYCWFF PHOTO COURTESY OF GETTY IMAGES/NYCWFF

What can we look forward to from you at the festival this year?
I am doing a really fun Italian sauce night dinner Friday evening of the festival. Saturday I will be at the Tribute Dinner, and Sunday I am doing the demo at the Grand Tasting Village. I hope to see you there!

What is your favorite part about SOBEWFF?
I honestly find Burger Bash the most fun. There’s something about smelling all those grilled burgers on the beach that is exhilarating. I always try to taste a few and see if I can tell who the winner will be.

Guarnaschelli at a cooking demo during NYCWFF.

Are you working on any fun projects coming this year?
I just completed a cookbook with my daughter Ava. It was really a collaboration because she came to the table with her recipes and I came with mine. It’s a compilation of what we eat at home and how we cook as a mom and a kid. It will come out next year. You can also find Season 3 of Alex vs. America airing on Food Network this spring!

For our cooking novices, what are the top tools everyone must have in the kitchen?
Other than patience and clean hands, a good blender, a good serrated paring knife and a microplane grater, and you can just about make anything.

For those who are intimidated, what advice would you give them?
Baby steps is the best way to start. Start by cooking eggs. Fried, scrambled, poached… then move on to simple roasted chicken and vegetables. Before you know it, you’ll have a whole repertoire.