Restaurant News

The Beach Bistro to Present Award Winning Dinner

Proprietor Sean Murphy and Chefs Peter Arpke and Mac DeCarle to prepare 'Golden Spoon Award' winning Gulf Coast Menu for the Event Friday, Sept. 16. Beach Bistro's Arpke and DeCarle Join Wolfgang Puck and Emeril Lagasse among exclusive group of chefs honored with James Beard House Dinner.

 HOLMES BEACH, Fla.  The Beach Bistro, one of the Zagat Guide's highest-rated restaurants in Florida, will be present at an exclusive dinner at the James Beard Foundation honoring Beach Bistro Chefs Peter Arpke and Mac DeCarle on Friday, Sept. 16, it was announced today by Sean Murphy, the restaurant's proprietor.  The event, one of the highest honors in the restaurant industry, will take place at the James Beard Foundation's now-legendary townhouse in lower Manhattan.  Arpke, along with Chef Mac DeCarle and the Beach Bistro's staff, will prepare and serve dinner for 100 people, with tickets priced at $100 for members and $125 for non-members. 

The dinner will showcase the Beach Bistro's acclaimed Gulf Coast cookery. The menu will highlight "Food Heaven," a Bistro original that combines the richest of American food product, roasted rack of Rosen Farm lamb, butter poached "Novey" lobster tail and D'Artagnan Foie Gras.  In addition, the dinner will include Florida Spiny Lobstercargot (lush chunks of spear-caught Key West lobster, slow-baked with shallots, spinach and garlic butter); "Esformes" Warm Bella Roma Tomato Salad (warmed in skillet and tossed with herbed balsamic vinaigrette, served over baby greens and mixed herbs in five year Reggiano crisp); Bistro Bouillabaisse (poached-to-order "Novey" lobster tails, Key West jumbos, the best fresh market fish, clams, mussels and calamari, served with clever asides of garlic toast and aioli); and a dessert of Praline Alexandra with Chocolate Truffle Terrine. The special event will also include pre-dinner tastings of Gulf Coast Blue Crab Cocktails, Willy Krauch's Smoked Salmon Aureoles, Sugarcane-staked, Bistro-grilled "Kicker Shrimp"; and Housemade "Duck ... Duck ... Mousse" pate on Golden Spoons. "We are all incredibly proud of Peter and Mac and excited to be making our New York debut at the James Beard Foundation," said Murphy. "It is every restaurateur's dream to be invited to the Beard House.

The Beach Bistro has the best, hardest working staff in the business, and it is because of them and all their efforts that we've been able to garner the notice of the James Beard Foundation."The Beach Bistro's reputation and the chef team's talent and skill as one of the nation's finest represent what the James Beard Foundation is all about: the celebration, preservation and nurturing of America's culinary heritage and diversity in order to elevate the appreciation of our culinary excellence," said Edna Morris, Executive Director, The James Beard Foundation.  "We are very pleased to welcome them to our home, and we look forward to what is going to be an exceptional dining experience." The Beach Bistro, one of Florida's most honored restaurants, was established in the mid-1980's by Murphy and his wife, Susan Timmins.  Since then, it has earned the highest Zagat rating for food and service in the state of Florida, in addition to being included in the guide's "Top Restaurants in America," which proclaimed it to have "the best food on the Gulf Coast," "as good as any in New York or Paris."  The Beach Bistro's surfside dining has also been recognized with eight Golden Spoon Awards, awarded annually to Florida's twenty best restaurants. The Beach Bistro is located at 6600 Gulf Drive, Holmes Beach, Fla. Reservations can be made by calling (941) 778-6444.