QUESTION: What happens when you cross a fish with a fork? ANSWER: If you’re lucky and you’re at Omni Amelia Island Resort & Spa in spring you get a wonderful weekend of fishing excursions and gourmet dining. Every year the resort invites six illustrious regional chefs to compete in the Fish to Fork Festival. The extraordinary seafood dishes they create and the resort’s own gourmet offerings are devoured and enjoyed by lucky festival-goers.
Thursday
Invited to cover the events, I joined VIP participants who sign up for the whole weekend. Hotel rooms, all oceanfront, are included and a Thursday night dinner launches the festival. This year, participants filed in past a “field” of hors d’oeuvres and filled their glasses at a fountain sprouting white wine. Wandering servers offered caviar and additional appetizers in the newly renovated FloraBelle restaurant.
During cocktails, the six guest chefs were introduced: Brian Griffith from Choy in Nashville, Lis Hernandez of Arepa Mia in Atlanta, Samuel-Drake Jones of New York City’s Hudson Local & Hudson Vu, Terry Koval of The Deer and the Dove in Decatur, Georgia, Eucepe Puntriano from Charleston’s Marbled & Fin, and Kevin Tien of Washington, D.C.’s Moon Rabbit. Each chef answered an on-the-spot question—and then selected a lily pad designating a fishing boat assignment for the next morning’s expedition.
The “Flavors in Full Bloom” dinner started with a Fava and White Bean-Hummus. Then pyramid carts were rolled in with the dishes served family style. First courses included Lyonnaise Salad, Sprouted Grain Salad, and a Coastal Tower of lobster, shrimp, and oysters. Rolled in on a second parade of carts were main course Bronzini with artichokes and peppers and a merguez lamb stew, served with smashed potato, fusilli, Southern greens. No ordinary “hotel food,” these were gourmet dishes overseen by Omni’s chef Omar Collazo. A highlight was the butter—yes, butter, its mystery flavor was an infusion of prickly pear essence, a savored memory we all took home.
Friday
Leaving the Omni promptly at 6:30 am after a breakfast of smoothies and choices of burritos, participants were bused to the marina where six boats awaited those who had selected a choice among three types of fishing: deep sea, backwater, and jetty.
Assigned to deep water, I boarded the Pipe Dream III with Captain Scott and able mate James. We fueled up and headed up island, pausing ten miles out to sea. James rigged the fishing rods and explained how to let out the fishing line and then reel it in when we had a bite. I landed six fish, minis, too tiny to keep, until finally I snagged a ray-finned Trigger. Chef Kevin Tien assigned to our boat helped reel in an agitated three-foot shark. Not recipe potential, we released it back to sea.
Resting after the fishing trip, I had time for a facial at the spa before the growing group of Fish to Fork-ers assembled for a dinner at picturesque Walker’s Landing. Titled a “speakeasy” dinner, we “knocked on the wall,” a signal for tiny windows to open dispensing pink rum cocktails. With a band playing and chefs preparing the appetizer in the waterside dining room, I joined a table of local neighbors who attend every year. We opened filagree-covered menus detailing five courses of the “Tide’s Whisper” meal: Rice, Agave, Corn, Juniper, and Bourbon.
Saturday
Saturday was an all-day dining extravaganza, beginning with the Omni’s extravagant breakfast buffet featuring full hot and cold selections, a custom omelette station, delicacies including dragon fruit and chia pudding, the pancake syrup served in individual hobnail pitchers.
Lunch was an opportunity to visit the resort’s ecological outpost, the Sprouting Project, where a state-of-the-art aquaponic greenhouse, organic gardens, a collection of beehives, a chicken coop, a barrel room, provide fresh ingredients for the hotel restaurants. Bottles of champagne were handed out, with the option of adding fresh orange juice for D.I.Y. mimosas. Ceviche was served and grill stations served grilled garlic shrimp and beef bites before we headed into the greenhouse where a buffet featured salads, grains, and dishes created from the locally raised fare.
The grand finale took place that night. Swelled to 400 participants, we assembled on the 8 Flags lawn where six tents were set up with the chefs preparing tempting creations from the fish caught the day before. Each bite was paired with a tea-infused cocktail and we all lined up to sample and select a favorite to vote for. Proceeding into the Magnolia Garden, we chose dinner from food stations encircling the tables: Puerto Rican alcapurria fritters, orecchiette Cacio Pepe pasta, barbecue brisket and beer can chicken, oysters, tostadas, affogato gelato and nitro brew coffee for dessert.
And then it was time for the Team Challenge. The chefs were divided into two teams each tasked with selecting a fish and recipe, preparing the dish, and plating it—all within an hour noted by a count-down clock. The chopping stirring, grilling was vicious but both groups competed the task on time, with the White Team taking the honors.
Competition was fierce, choices were difficult, but ending up on top in both contests was chef Kevin Tien of Moon Rabbit restaurant in Washington, DC., who had donated a six-course tasting meal to the raffle held to benefit Say Goodnight to Hunger.
Night Cap
Returning to our rooms each night, we’d discover an extra extravagance, a custom nightcap. Artfully arranged bedside would be a soothing beverage and coordinated snack, a final bit of indulgence before falling asleep.
Photo credits: Deremer Studio LLC and Sharon King Hoge
