Nutella Martini at Paris in Town Le Bistro, Palm Beach Gardens

Paris in Town Le Bistro is going nutty over Nutella. The chocolate-hazelnut spread from the 1940s that Europeans eat like peanut butter has made a foothold in the U.S.

Fans everywhere are combining it with other nut butters, bananas, berries of every ilk and cake to create sandwiches, crepes and desserts.

Paris in Town’s Le Bistro, in Downtown at the Gardens, is celebrating World Nutella Day all day Sunday with free mini-crepes filled with Nutella. Their menu features eight Nutella crepes with combos of the spread and ingredients such as bananas, strawberries; honey and lemon; blackberry confit; and banana, Grand Marnier. All deserve whipped cream on top.

In honor of the spread’s World Day there will be games, prizes and give-aways, and a sculpture made from Nutella jars outside in the courtyard.

Through Sunday, diners also can order a Nutella Martini ($12) at the bar, garnished with fresh strawberries.

Paris in Town Le Bistro serves a French bistro menu daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Paris in Town Le Bistro

• 11701 Lake Victoria Gardens Ave. (Downtown at the Gardens), Palm Beach Gardens
• 561-622-1616; parisintownbistro.com
• Nutella event: Sunday, Feb. 5, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Chef Sean Brasel creates the chile-espresso-crusted beef tenderloin at the Meat Market in Miami /photo courtesy Andrew Meade

Ever wondered about Pittsburgh-style steak and why it’s so named? Sean Brasel of Miami’s Meat Market answers that question for readers in my Sun Sentinel column today. There’s also a secret ingredient in the calamari recipe I got from chef Mike Ponluang, of Coco Asian Bistro in Fort Lauderdale.

Check them out – and more – in the Sun Sentinel’s food section online.

Join Meals on Wheels at Good Samaritan Hospital Saturday to mark their first year as an organization that delivers meals to the homebound in the West Palm Beach area. The party’s from 10-11 a.m. in the atrium at Good Sam. There will be cake – and organizers, volunteers and recipients will be on hand to talk about the program.

The group has grown seven-fold since it began taking hot meals once a day to those who can’t get out to shop or receive a hot meal elsewhere, or who are incapacitated and need nutritious meals delivered. Cost of the meals are on a sliding scale – recipients pay what they can afford toward the $4.90 meal cost.

Volunteers needed – many ways to help

I’m proud to be one of the many volunteers for this organization. None of the dozens of delivery people are paid – volunteers are needed to help serve the growing community.

If you’re a corporation or work for one, we need you! Meals on Wheels gets no government funding.

Sign up a “team” of volunteers to deliver on their lunch hour once a month. Or  contribute tax-deductible money to help pay for meals, servingware, coolers for delivery or recipients, or office items such as routing software or printing needs that move the group forward.

Information about Meals on Wheels

Meals on Wheels is a national organization; the Palm Beach chapter was founded by Charlie Ring in 2010.

To contact the group, visit their website, or call 561-802-6979.

Meals on Wheels of the Palm Beaches

• PO Box 247, West Palm Beach, FL 33402
• 561-802-6979; mealsonwheelspalmbeaches.org

Whole Foods Market is having a Burger Brawl at the PGA store as a charity benefit in advance of the Super Bowl.

Four teams from the store’s departments – Meat, Seafood, Prepared Foods and Specialty Foods – will serve up slider-sized burgers to store visitors. The team who sells the most wins the challenge. Sliders are $2 or 4 for $8, and the money will be donated to the Palm Beach Gardens Youth Athletic Association.

The Burger Brawl is Saturday, Feb. 4, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Whole Foods Market in Downtown at the Gardens, 11701 Lake Victoria Gardens Dr., PalmBeach Gardens.

New England or New York Food Favs – You Choose

Chef Charlie Coe /photo courtesy Dine Magazine

Russell’s Blue Water Grill in Palm Beach Gardens is serving up the Battle of the Cuisines at the restaurant on Sunday during the bowl game. Diners can sup on foods from chef Charlie Coe’s fun ala carte menu representing each side of the playing field. Choices include New England or Manhattan clam chowder; a lobster roll or a Coney Island dog; fried Ipswich clams or Buffalo chicken wings; New England lobster-clam bake or “snowbird” pizza. Even the drinks are themed: the Cape Codder, or a Long Island Iced Tea. For beer lovers, pick Sam Adams Boston Lager or Brooklyn Brewery Lager.

Two TVs will be brought in for the game (pre-game begins at 6 p.m.)

The regular Blue Water Grill ala carte menu also is available. Russell’s Blue Water Grill is at 2450 PGA Blvd., Palm Beach Gardens; phone 561-318-6344 for reservations.

Three course menu at Philippe Chow Boca

The dinner at Philippe Chow Boca Raton is billed as “Where tailgating meets table service and white tablecloths.” A three-course prix fixe menu is $39 during the game; there are complimentary rental and reservations in the private wine room, which features a giant flat-screen TV – it will be tuned in for bowl watchers.

Menu offered Sunday, Feb. 5. Philippe Chow Boca Raton is at 200 E. Palmetto Park Road, Boca Raton; reservations at 561-393-4666.

Il Bacio Has Playboy Model and Buffet

The “Ultimate Superbowl Viewing Party” is in Delray is at Il Bacio Ultra Lounge, where Erica Chevillar will presumably be hanging with the boys. 100-inch game screens will display the other game, and the food is a $20 all-you-can-eat buffet. You can reserve sectioned-off VIP couches for the event.

Doors open at 4 p.m.; first-come, first-served for general admission. Il Bacio is at 29 S.E. Second Ave., Delray Beach; for VIP reservations, call Steven at 561-376-3374.

Beer Extravaganza at Boca’s Biergarten

“You make the call” on unlimited beer and cocktails with a buffet at the Biergarten in Boca Raton during the Super Bowl. Prizes given away every quarter of the game and during half-time. Buy tickets for $50 a person. Larger parties (15 or more) should contact reservations@biergartenboca.com Three large projector screens are set up for the game. Event begins at 5 p.m.

The Biergarten is at 309 Via de Palmas, Boca Raton; call 561-395-7462.

World of Beer Has Free Food and Games

Glassware and beer towers are the giveaways, along with a chance to win 6-packs of beer every 15 minutes during the game at World of Beer on Clematis in West Palm Beach. Raffle tickets, $1 each, go the charity, Wheels for Kids, providing customized wheelchairs for kids in Palm Beach County. Get a free beer shot every time your team wins a touchdown if you’re wearing a jersey. Numerous TVs line the bars.

World of Beer is at 101 N. Clematis, West Palm Beach; 561-659-5827.

First Lady Michelle Obama breaks ground on the White House vegetable garden

The Daily Meal website has released its 2012 list of the most powerful people in food in the nation.

The list is all-encompassing – doctors, CEOs, chefs, TV personalities, farmers, the First Lady, lawyers, authors – all here.

These are the people who influence us as diners, cooks, shoppers, growers, voters and entertainment and health care consumers. In other words, they shape many of our everyday decisions and choices where food is concerned. It’s wise to learn who they are.

Here are the top 10:

Patricia Woertz, CEO Archer Daniels Midland

10. Patricia Woertz, Chairman, President, and CEO,  Archer Daniels Midland

9. Hugh Grant, Chairman, President, and CEO, The Monsanto Company

8. Michelle Obama, First Lady of the United States and Dietary Activist

7. Michael Taylor, Deputy Commissioner for Foods, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration

6. Jim Skinner, Vice Chairman and CEO, McDonald’s

5. Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO, PepsiCo.

Mike Duke, Walmart CEO

4. Mike Duke, President and CEO, Walmart

3. Jeremy Stoppelman, Co-Founder and CEO, Yelp

2. Thomas Vilsack, Secretary, U.S. Department of Agriculture

1. Brooke Johnson, President, Food Network

Chef Danny Stasi of Shuck and Dive in Fort Lauderdale with New Orleans style barbecued shrimp /photo Robert Duyos, Sun Sentinel

Looking for some great party recipes for Super Bowl Sunday – or any party?

Take a look at those I gathered from area chefs. Their teams may have lost, but their recipes kick butt.

We get some great recipes from Chef Danny Stasi of Fort Lauderdale’s Shuck n’ Dive, Who Dat! Saints fan; Chef Roy Villacrusis, formerly with Kapow! Noodle Bar, who went down with the Packers at the end; Chef Bruce Feingold of Dada in Delray, still trying to get Da Bears in this contest; Chef Oliver Saucy of Cafe Maxx in Pompano Beach, rooting for the wrong NY team, and Chef Patrick Broadhead – a frustrated Steeler’s fan from Max’s Group restaurants.

Check them out – they look so fine in their team jerseys.

See them all and get recipes in the photo gallery, then read the complete story with recipes this Thursday in the Sun Sentinel food section.

Meat stadium idea for your Super Bowl party

If you hadn’t already seen these, just sharing this idea to take your cold-cut-sandwich tray to new levels at this year’s Super Bowl.

They’re called “meat stadiums” – and some creative cooks have taken them to new levels. Some even personalized them with the various stadiums of note – the Green Monster, etc.

I wish I could credit this one, but can’t seem to find its owner. The photo has gone viral, however; kudos to the creator.

Go here to see several more.

Fran Andrewlevich didn’t know what to expect or what he was getting into when he created the Jupiter Craft Brewers Festival six years ago.

“I didn’t know if anyone would come,” he said. He doubted it even more when Abacoa’s permit office clerk had to be told what a craft beer was. “They had come into their own, but we were behind the curve down here with brewpubs and breweries,” the brewmaster of Brewzzi said. Andrewlevich had already won medals for his own craft beers at the Great American Beer Festival in Colorado – the Mecca of beer-lovers.

When the crowds at the gate of the initial fest had to be quelled by police presence, and a few hundred turned away from sampling about 50 beers, the brewer decided craft beer had a footing in the area after all.

Saturday, the 2012 Craft Brewers Festival takes place at Abacoa next to the Roger Dean Stadium on Main Street. Andrewlevich has limited attendance to 3000, and created a family-friendly event Craftoberfest at the amphitheater next door to handle the kids and dogs and spillovers who can’t get in to the main event.

Friday night is the Field of Beers, the baseball-themed dine around held on the baseball field and in the dugouts with food and beer pairings. Chef John Carlino of ChefStart in Palm Beach Gardens teamed with Andrewlevich to match foods and brews. It’s sold out the day tickets are put out online.

There are still tickets available at the gate for those 18 and up. More than 150 beers will be on tap for sampling, many from Florida’s own brewers, like the Tequesta Brewing Co., or Cigar City Brewery from Tampa. Mead, pilsners, lagers, ales, IPAs and more are here for the tasting.

Tickets go quickly here – it’s still a popular event, with music, contests and more; food is sold separately. Get there early if you want a ticket.

To read more about it, see my story in this week’s Florida Weekly.

Jupiter Craft Brewers Festival

• When: Saturday, Jan. 28, 1 p.m.-5:30 p.m.
• Where: Held outdoors at Roger Dean Stadium, 4751 Main Street (Abacoa downtown), Jupiter.
• Cost: Tickets are $35 at the door (online tickets are sold out); fee covers all samples. Foods are sold separately. (Attendees must be 18 or over and have a photo ID for admission.)
• Craftoberfest, on the lawn at the amphitheater next door, is from 2-7 p.m.; admission is free. Beer and food are sold separately. Open to all ages; pets on a leash are welcome.
• For information: Email info@jupiterbrewfest.com, or go to the website, www.jupitercraftbrewersfestival.com

Grampa's Restaurant stuffed cabbage rolls /photo by Taimy Alvarez, Sun Sentinel

Chef Tommy Grimes of Grampa’s Bakery and Restaurant in Dania shared his own delicious recipe for stuffed cabbage rolls with my readers in the Sun Sentinel today. (Recipes are lined in the gray box on the left side of their web page.) Make extra and freeze them for a second meal. There’s also a recipe for Christy’s Caesar salad in the column; it’s a classic.

Lindsay Autry /photo courtesy BravoTV.com

Michelle Bernstein announced she’d be leaving the boutiquey Palm Beach hotel, The Omphoy at month’s end. The James Beard Award winner’s MB at the Omphoy was one of three restaurants (Michy’s, Sr. Martinez and Crumb on Parchment in Miami) she was operating with spouse-partner David Martinez. Chef Lindsay Autry, currently on Bravo TV’s Top Chef show as one of the final cheftestants, has allegedly already left. Official word from her publicist is: “she’s taking a little break.” But a gossip site has Twitter lit up with its report that Omphoy owner-billionaire and former Senate hopeful Jeff Greene, currently living at with his family at the hotel, caused the exodus. According to Jose Lambiet’s report, it was by treating the workers from the restaurant and spa – who are outside contractors – “like his own domestic staff.”

Dean Max announced earlier this month he’s severing ties with the Marriott on Singer Island at his 3800 Ocean. The chef from 3030 Ocean in Ft. Lauderdale says it didn’t work out with a hotel staff that’s running a breakfast and lunch service from the same kitchen where he’s trying to operate a high-end dinner restaurant. “I wish them well,” Max said. The oceanside location in the former Resort hotel on Singer Island is problematic – his upscale diners, many from Palm Beach, wouldn’t drive that far. “It’s a tough location,” he said, but he thought it could be overcome, saying at opening that it could be a success “once they get to know me and my food.” He leaves melancholy. “I’m sad it didn’t work out – this is where I grew up.”

Roy Villacrusis

Roy Villacrusis has dropped his partnership with Rodney Mayo’s group who brought him in to design Kapow! Noodle Bar’s menu. According to Villacrusis, former chef/owner of Kubo in North Palm Beach, his hands-on eclectic Asiatic menu didn’t fit with what they want to do at the Mizner Park restaurant in Boca. “The concept was too confusing,” he said. “I’m taking my name off the partnership and (will) move on.” Going forward, he said, “I have a couple of things on the back burner, but I am being a bit more cautious now, making sure it’s the concept/food I want to do and they (partners) are sincere and willing to back it up.”

Glen Manfra, of Palm Beach’s Amici and Bice fame – and once with Vic and Angelo’s, cheffed SpoonFed in Delray for only a few months before deciding it wasn’t working with the current owner, AMG Restaurants. He says he wished they had trusted his experience more; he liked his team and especially the concept of serving breakfast, lunch and dinner at the Atlantic Avenue spot.  Other opportunities have already come up, he said; he’s looking outside the area as well as locally.