Battle of the chefs on golf course during festival

The Associated Press, Saturday, February 23, 2013, 10:50am (PST)

AVENUTRA, Fla. (AP) — What do you get when a group of celebrity chefs move from the kitchen to the fairway following a long — and late — night of wine and burgers on South Beach?

"I'm clearly not the future of golf," tweeted Alex Guarnaschelli after one swing.

"Watch out Tiger, here I come!" Jose Andres jokingly said in Spanish after teeing off.

Nearly a dozen A-list chefs took to the links early Saturday during the South Beach Wine and Food Festival for a battle of the chefs during a golf tournament hosted by Andres. He, too, admitted to staying out late the night before and "seeing the sun come up on the horizon."

"That's not the way chefs usually behave," the Spanish chef said. "But we need to play with the stereotypes."

Andres recently opened The Bazaar, the new hot spot eatery at the SLS Hotel South Beach that handed out fruit push-pops and coconut sorbet in shells to the players. Also on hand were mimosas and whiskey, cigars, and plenty of food.

Sloppy Gino sliders made with fresh ground chuck and "atomic cheese" were prepared on site by Nadia G, the host of Cooking Channel's "Bitchin' Kitchen."

"This is a fun, from scratch spin on an Americana dish," she said of the bite-size sliders that held up on the golf course.

Back on the green, Tim Love — chef and owner of The Lonesome Dove Western Bistro in Fort Worth, Texas — said he enjoys the "athletic stuff" during the festival. (He was sore from playing in a celebrity chef volleyball tournament held by Spike Mendelsohn on Friday).

"I like getting out and doing stuff. If I don't, I just end up getting hammered," he said as he waited for his partner to play (no drink in hand). "That's going to happen, but at least I won't feel so bad about myself if I get some steps."

The chefs — including Ming Tsai, Edward Lee, Cesare Casella and Jeremy Sewall — were joined by Miami Heat's Alonzo Mourning, who said he "was looking forward to meeting them" at the end of the 18-round game.

"I'm going to win," Andres predicted. "I know it's going to look like, because I'm the host, that will be kind of political. But I'm so good, I'm going to win."