Chef Ryan Smith Joins the 2017 Seeing Red Wine Festival
SEASIDE® Announces Celebrated Staplehouse Chef
as Part of the Gulf-Coast-to-Table Experience
SEASIDE®, Fla.—Aug. 9, 2017—The 27th Annual Seeing Red Wine Festival is excited to announce renowned Chef Ryan Smith of Atlanta’s Staplehouse Restaurant as its guest chef for Friday evening’s Gulf-Coast-to-table dinner under the stars. Smith will join award-winning Seaside restaurateur Chef Jim Shirley for this exciting, new-to-Seaside event. Smith and Shirley will team up on Nov. 10 from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. to feature an elegant evening of locally sourced offerings, personally prepared and selected to complement highlighted wines for an exclusive experience.
Seeing Red Wine Festival is bringing a fresh take to its time honored festival tradition by offering this inaugural Friday evening experience. Wine aficionados and foodies will savor carefully selected Gulf-Coast-to-table dishes while sipping specially curated wines from Kokomo Winery and the SEASIDE Wine Project. The four-day wine and culinary event will continue to maintain the best of what attendees crave throughout the weekend.
Ryan Smith is Chef/Partner at the award-winning Staplehouse restaurant in Atlanta. Originally from State College, Penn., he has called Atlanta home for 15 years. Smith took an interest in cooking while he was in college, working in the kitchens at Penn State University. He went on to attend The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., and received his degree in 2000. From there, Smith moved to Atlanta to explore the history and traditions of the Southeast and gain experience working for some of the city’s best chefs.
Chef Smith has worked in some of Atlanta’s most prominent restaurants including Bacchanalia, Canoe, Restaurant Eugene, Holeman & Finch, and Empire State South. Since opening in Sept. 2015, Staplehouse has been named a James Beard finalist for Best New Restaurant, Bon Appetit’s Best New Restaurant in America, GQ’s Best New Restaurant, and Atlanta Magazine’s #1 Restaurant in Atlanta. Staplehouse is the for-profit subsidiary of The Giving Kitchen; a 501(c)3 that provides grant assistance to metro-Atlanta restaurant workers experiencing unanticipated hardship.
About the 27th Annual Seeing Red Wine Festival
Tickets are available NOW online at www.SeeingRedWineFestival.com. This year’s festivities include Bud & Alley’s Wine Dinner on Thursday evening, the Gulf Coast to Table Dinner on Friday, the Festival Grand Tasting on Saturday, and a Celebration Of Bubbles Brunch on Sunday, all in coveted Seaside style. Each year has been a sell-out event, and this year will be no exception. Tickets are limited. Attendees will want to purchase their tickets early.
About SEASIDE®
Seaside, built on 80 acres on Florida’s Gulf Coast, is located on South Walton County’s Hwy. 30-A, on Northwest Florida’s Gulf Coast. Acclaimed world-wide as one of the iconic examples of New Urbanism, Seaside offers a thriving town center with shopping and dining, all within walkable distance to homes, cottages and offices. Consisting of more than 400 homes, many of them vacation rentals, the community offers more than 12 restaurants and eateries, and 41 shops and galleries.
Seaside is featured in the following: Cooking Channel’s Emeril’s Florida, PBS “10 Towns that Changed America,” Frommer’s “Top 12 Destinations in the World,” Trip Advisor’s “15 Rising Vacation Rental Destinations for 2016,” Travel Channel’s “2015 Best Family Beach,” Travel + Leisure’s “Best Beach on Earth” for families (2014) and USA Today’s “Top 10 Best Beach Towns in Florida (2013) by “Dr. Beach” to name a few. The holiday town was also the primary filming location of the classic movie “The Truman Show.”
A prominent topic in architectural schools and in housing-industry magazines, Seaside is visited by design professionals from throughout the United States, and is included in the American Institute of Architects (Florida chapter) list of Florida Architecture: 100 Years 100 Places.
For more information, visit www.seasidefl.com or email lsmith@seasidefl.com.
About Staplehouse
Staplehouse is a for-profit subsidiary of The Giving Kitchen, a nonprofit organization. While your meal from Staplehouse is not tax-deductible, all after-tax profits from the restaurant ultimately benefit The Giving Kitchen, which provides emergency assistance grants to metro Atlanta restaurant workers facing unanticipated crisis.
