Food, Football & Charity Collide at John Offerdahl’s Gridiron Grill-Off

 

DSC_1008-3680898198-O-FeaturedFood lovers and football fans will enjoy the Sixth Annual “John Offerdahl’s Broward Health® Gridiron Grill-Off Food & Wine Festival,” on Saturday, November 14th from 1 – 4 p.m. at the Pompano Beach Amphitheater. It’s a grill-off competition with Miami Dolphins legends and celebrity chefs from South Florida’s finest restaurants. Fans spend the afternoon eating, sampling fine Gallo wines, voting on their favorite grill recipes and competing with Dolphins players in the annual Cornhole Tournament. And it’s all designed to “Feed the Need of Kids in Crisis,” benefitting charities like 4KIDS of South Florida, Hope South Florida and nonprofits that support education, the culinary arts and athletics.

 

This year Celebrity Chef Adam Richman, host of Travel Channel’s “Man v Food” and NBC’s “Food Fighters” will add to the excitement. Having traveled all around the country looking for the best dishes, Richman is a featured guest at the Gridiron Grill-Off where he will participate in a grilling demo with Paul & Young Ron of BIG 105.9 and sign copies of his new book, Straight Up Tasty inside the Jack Daniels Tennessee Tailgate Zone.

 

Compete to Win

During the Tailgate Challenge, tailgater teams will be selected to compete against one another for a $1,000 Grand Prize by creating a recipe containing Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey and premium Smithfield meats. Event attendees will get the chance to sample these dishes and celebrity judges will vote on each recipe to declare the 2015 Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey Tailgate Champion!

Fans can also compete to earn a spot in the Grill-Off Cornhole Finals, a bean bag tailgating game that teams 16 celebrity pros with the top 16 community Joes in an elimination tournament to become the Grill-Off Cornhole Champions! Here’s how it works. For a charitable donation, fans toss eight bean bags to make the Top 16 Leaderboard. Purchase additional entries to perfect your game and support the mission to “Feed the Needs of Kids in Crisis!”

 

Discover the Seafood Village

In true Florida style, Guy Harvey’s Sustainable Seafood Village will be expanded this year to include an educational and interactive exhibition, feature three of the competition’s 25 restaurants including Dauphin’s, S3 and The Oceanaire Seafood Room, and include representation from the Alabama Marine Resources Division with information about sustainable seafood practices. Guy Harvey, acclaimed artist, fisherman and conservationist, paid special tribute to Alabama’s fishing and seafood industry in the Winter 2014 Issue of Guy Harvey Magazine, pointing to the 17,000 plus artificial reefs Alabama has built over the past four decades that has resulted in an explosive population in the delicious red snapper fishery.  “We are delighted to partner with the Guy Harvey Foundation to showcase our products from Alabama,” said Chris Blankenship, director of the Alabama Marine Resources Division, pointing to fresh shrimp, oysters and crabs from the Gulf of Mexico as a high quality domestic product. Be sure to stop by the Guy Harvey’s Sustainable Seafood Village to experience some of South Florida’s top chef’s preparing sustainable seafood tastings.

“We are fired up to deliver new and exciting elements to the Gridiron Grill-Off each year that exceed the expectations of our attendees,” said John Offerdahl, event founder and former Miami Dolphins All-Pro Linebacker. “The festival has become a culinary tradition in South Florida and we take great pride in making it the best it can be to Feed the Needs of Kids in Crisis.”

 

Benefit local charities

Looking to reaffirm his faith and spirit of giving, John (the “Gridiron Griller”) formed the “John Offerdahl’s Broward Health® Gridiron Grill-Off Food & Wine Festival” in 2010. “The Gridiron Grill-Off holds a very special place in my heart, as it combines my greatest passions, football and food, with the opportunity to positively impact the children in our community,” he said.

During the event, the chef and athlete teams create signature grilled entrees for nearly 3,000 attendees with 100 percent of the net proceeds benefiting the Offerdahl’s Hand-Off Foundation and its mission to “Feed the Needs of Kids in Crisis” through sustaining partnerships between business, government & faith-based agencies. The charitable grant model allocates 60 percent of proceeds to Community Charities such as 4KIDS of South Florida, which provides hope to kids in crisis by matching modern day orphans with loving families (www.4kidsofsfl.org) and HOPE South Florida, which serves homeless families by providing housing, mentoring and assistance to renew broken families and restore lives (www.hopesouthflorida.com). The remaining 40 percent is allocated to Industry Charities such as FRLA’s Educational Foundation (www.frla.org), Here’s Help Culinary School (www.hereshelpinc.com), the Miami Dolphins Foundation, devoted to supporting Education, Health, Youth Athletic Programs and Volunteer Activities (www.miamidolphins.com/community/foundation.html) and Taste of the NFL, which addresses the needs of the hungry and homeless (www.tasteofthenfl.com).

“John Offerdahl’s Broward Health® Gridiron Grill-Off Food & Wine Festival” is set for Saturday, Nov. 14 at the Pompano Beach Amphitheater, 1806 NE 6 Street. The $85 Grand Grill-Off ticket will give attendees, 21 and older, the opportunity to sample delicious signature dishes created by Miami Dolphins legends and top local chefs from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The $125 VIP ticket package will include a signed copy of Richman’s book, as well as early access into the Grand Grill-Off starting at noon. To find out more and to purchase VIP and regularly-priced admission tickets, visit www.gridirongrilloff.com.

For more articles by Shelly Pond, please visit goodnewsfl.org/author/shelly/

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