Land O’Lakes, Fla. – There was a fresh, new face on the scene at this year’s 16th annual South Beach Wine & Food Festival. Chef Ashley Davis, of Bexley’s Twisted Sprocket Café, just returned from Miami after being invited to participate in one of the most popular food events in the country, which was held February 23 – 26, 2017.
Bexley is owned in a joint venture partnership between NORTH AMERICA SEKISUI HOUSE, LLC (NASH), the U.S. business unit and full subsidiary of SEKISUI HOUSE, LTD., Japan’s largest homebuilder and leading diversified developer, and Newland Real Estate Group, LLC, whose development business, Newland Communities, is the master developer of the community. Bexley is one of more than 30 communities the NASH-Newland partnership owns together in 11 states across the United States.
While the South Beach Wine and Food Festival attracts award winning celebrity chefs and up-and-coming culinary talent from restaurants all around the U.S. this was the first time that a master-planned community has been invited to participate.
The Twisted Sprocket Café is one of the outstanding amenities at Bexley and is open to the public. The café offers a full menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as wine and beer. Guests can enjoy a bomber of Twisted Sprocket Ale. Pasco-based Big Storm Brewery developed the beer especially for the community.
For the festival, Chef Ashley created two original recipes. Guests at the Barilla’s Italian Bites on the Beach dinner hosted by Food Network celebrities Valerie Bertinelli and Chef Alex Guarnaschelli dined on petite portions of Short Rib Ragu over Pappardelle with Pecorino Romano. At the Grand Tasting Village, the most popular event of the weekend festival Davis prepared Orange Braised Lamb Sliders with Crunchy Fennel Slaw and Spicy Mint Aioli. In all, Davis and her team prepared more than 4,500 sample portions for 6,000 people during the two events.
“It was an amazing experience,” noted Davis. “I was so thrilled that people loved our dishes. Of course, one of the highlights of the event was getting the chance to talk with event-goers, who were so impressed to learn about the Bexley community and how the Twisted Sprocket Café has become such a fun gathering spot, not only for residents but for folks from surrounding communities as well.”
“South Beach Wine and Food Festival is still one of the important stops on the annual Festival calendar,” added Scott Feldman, President and CEO of Two Twelve- Next Management, which represents several Food Network Chefs. “As a national stage, having a talented, young, up and coming Chef like Ashley Davis participate on behalf of a community like Bexley and the Twisted Sprocket Cafe opens a door for a new audience of consumers and foodies.”
In addition to the food and education that the festival provides, the event also raises funds for the Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Florida International University, Davis’s alma mater. Before launching Twisted Sprocket Café, Davis spearheaded both restaurant and corporate accounts for Share Our Strength in Washington D.C., where she helped raise $22M through restaurant activations and assisted the organization in its signature Dine Out for No Kid Hungry campaign. She has worked with celebrity chefs such as Marc Murphy, Guy Fieri and Robert Irvine.
The Twisted Sprocket Café is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and from 12noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
About Bexley:
Bexley, a 1,825 acre master-planned community located in Land O’Lakes on the southern hub among several notable wilderness preserves, opened recently in Fall 2016. Nestled among the cypress domes, oak hammock and pine flatwoods will be single-family homes, townhouse and apartments; 10 miles of multi-use, soft surface trails that will connect to the 42-mile Suncoast Trail; and a Welcome Center featuring a café and bicycle shop offering rentals and repairs. www.bexleyflorida.com
About NEWLAND:
Newland is a diversified real estate company leveraging a national platform and over 45 years of experience to perform challenging and diverse development, investment, management, and advisory services across a wide range of real estate. The company’s mixed-use development business, Newland Communities, actively owns, operates and develops premier residential master-planned, commercial, retail, and urban mixed-use real estate across the U.S. Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., Newland and its affiliated companies have completed, or have underway, more than 140 diverse real estate developments, more than 20 million square feet of commercial and retail space, and 175,000 residential units in 14 states. www.newlandcommunities.com.
About NORTH AMERICA SEKISUI HOUSE, LLC (NASH):
NASH was established in 2010 as the U.S. business operations unit and a full subsidiary of SEKISUI HOUSE, LTD., Japan’s largest homebuilder and a leading diversified developer since 1960. SEKISUI HOUSE, LTD. has built more than two million houses to date and expanded its operations to Australia, China, Singapore, and the U.S. NASH establishes joint ventures to build innovative and sustainability conscious master planned communities across the US. NASH is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. http://nashcommunities.com/. www.sekisuihouse.co.jp/english/index.html.
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Contact:
Pam Parisi
Vice President of Marketing, Newland Communities
813.620.3555 | pparisi@newlandco.com