Opening Cocktail Party at Mayakoba Masters of Food Wine & Golf 2017

PHOTO: The food menu for the Opening Cocktail Party at Mayakoba Food Wine & Golf (c) Sery Kim

After an exhausting week of travel, I am so glad I made the ultimate decision to attend the Mayakoba Masters of Food Wine & Golf. The opening night party Thursday night had the best Mexican food I've had in a long time. I didn't realize until I got there that it was going to be a taco party, with each of the celebrity chefs who came to visit re-interpreting the taco for their home country.

PHOTO: All the taco options (c) Sery Kim

Not all of the celebrity chefs could make it to this party, but of the ones who came I had a few favorites. Admittedly, I barely tried a fraction of these chef's food since my stomach had somehow managed to shrink in the one day I didn't eat food. Because I was standing near his stand, I started with Dante Ferrero of Argentina, and his taco was the ideal blend of spicy and savory. Something about how his meat was cooked with a thin slivery of jalepeno was marvelous to me. I literally could have stayed there to eat about four of them, but I thought it would be good for me to keep venturing so I went to the stand next to his which was David Andrews of Great Britain. I also liked David's (but not as much as Dante's) simply because fish-and-chips combines two things I really love (french fries and taco).

PHOTO: Dante making his taco (c) Sery Kim

PHOTO: My horrible photo of the best taco of the night (c) Sery Kim

Unfortunately for you all, the best taco of the night was also the worst picture I took. The gorgeous Diane Dimeo (half Korean and half Lebanese) created a "KFC" taco made with fried chicken and kimchi slaw. The explosion of flavors both sweet-and-spicy makes my mouth tremble right now just thinking about it. Unbelievably delicious! I would fly to Mexico to just have this dish -- her restaurant is in Tulum for those of you who don't want to wait a year for the 2018 Mayakoba Masters of Food Wine & Golf.

PHOTO: My bottle of tequila (c) Sery Kim

Another gorgeous element of the evening was the brilliant margaritas made with Patron tequila. I had two different kinds of margaritas, as well as a straight up tequila shot of Patron, and all three drinks were magnificent. Also, luckily enough for me, I was given a bottle of the silver. Fun time!

In addition to the great food and drinks, the entire ambience of the event was intimate and super romantic. I tend to hate food and wine festivals because they are so enormous and gosh-darn boring. The last one I went too was sprawling, and during the day. It's just not that fun to drink and eat at an omnibus food event during the day. Night is where the action is at and, particularly with the Mayakoba event, there was great mariachi music, with the fresh sweet smell of just finishing rain. The entire atmosphere was special.

Actually, when I really think about it, I do believe it was the best food and wine festival event I have ever been to. That's really saying a lot because I didn't want to be there (again, super duper tired), and I had some snafu's with scheduling. In spite of this, or maybe because of this, the event was just really fun!

What a great start to the Mayakoba Masters of Food Wine & Golf!