{"id":345383,"date":"2026-07-19T17:17:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T17:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/345383\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T17:17:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T17:17:09","slug":"tomatoes-are-the-star-of-two-dinners-at-mad-arts-in-dania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/345383\/","title":{"rendered":"Tomatoes are the star of two dinners at MAD Arts in Dania"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is \u201cSmall Bites,\u201d a South Florida Sun Sentinel feature with tidbits on the food and beverage scene \u2014 because we know that sometimes you just don\u2019t have room for a long article. You want a news brief instead, an amuse bouche of information, if you will. Enjoy!<\/p>\n

WHAT: It\u2019s a fruit. It\u2019s a berry. And now it\u2019s the muse for two art-filled dinners staged at the MAD Arts museum in Dania Beach.<\/p>\n

\u201cOde to Tomato: An Immersive Seasonal Dinner Experience\u201d will serve up six tomato-centric dishes on select Fridays in August as an homage to the history of the town, which once billed itself as the \u201cThe Tomato Capital of the World.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re following the story of Dania over the course of the dinner, with each dish representing a different chapter in the town\u2019s journey,\u201d said narrative director\u00a0 Rebecca Farfan, who developed the concept. \u201cThe immersive visuals help bring the story to life and make each course part of the experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

As guests move through six courses, they will be surrounded with visuals by artists Astrid Marie, Liv Cook and Mark Espinoza, including animation, original artwork, digital projections, sound and storytelling.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were going for immersiveness and they left nothing out,\u201d Farfan added. \u201cThese artists pulled together their skills to create a colorful world for the guests, with the physical meeting the visual, like we\u2019re stepping into the looking glass.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Chef<\/p>\n

Mad Arts<\/p>\n

Chef Sam Diaz has created a six-course, tomato-centric menu for two art-immersive dinners at MAD Arts in Dania Beach. (MAD Arts\/Courtesy)<\/p>\n

The event grew out of a menu concept from chef Sam Diaz, who came to MAD Arts with the idea of blending tomato-based dishes with the town\u2019s tomato legacy. Diaz is working with MAD Arts to launch a food and beverage program at the museum.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis idea came to me when chatting with a friend about the love we have for tomatoes,\u201d Diaz recalled. \u201cWe wanted to highlight how versatile this one fruit can be. Then when collaborating with Rebecca we found ourselves creating this world of campy, otherworldly ideas for the tomatoes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen researching for this project, we found the different cultures that have inhabited this great city. I found that by getting with local farmers and making everything from scratch will be the best way to honor the history.\u201d<\/p>\n

WHEN: 7-9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 7, and Friday, Aug. 21<\/p>\n

WHERE: MAD Arts, 481 S. Federal Highway, Dania Beach<\/a><\/p>\n

THE MENU:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Tomato Loaf with herb, Calabrian chili and whipped butters<\/p>\n

\u2022 Tomato Salad with peaches, pickled eggplant, crispy halloumi and herbs<\/p>\n

\u2022 Bloody Mary Granita with pickled green tomato, garlic, celery, Calabrian pepper and gin<\/p>\n

\u2022 Tomato Broth Tortellini with ricotta, Sicilian pesto, almonds and basil<\/p>\n

\u2022 Tomato-Steamed Cod with stewed tomatoes, chickpeas, fennel and pickled mustard sauce<\/p>\n

\u2022 Sour Cream Cheesecake with strawberry and tomato compote and mint crumble<\/p>\n

COST: $150 per person with wine pairing or $100 with nonalcoholic beverages<\/p>\n

INFORMATION: yeswearemadarts.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Chef<\/p>\n

Mad Arts<\/p>\n

Chef Sam Diaz is working with MAD Arts to launch a food and beverage program at the museum. (MAD Arts\/Courtesy)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is \u201cSmall Bites,\u201d a South Florida Sun Sentinel feature with tidbits on the food and beverage scene…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":345384,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[506,8904,104,684,28,688,249,251,250,114,687,109,685,106],"class_list":["post-345383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-broward-county","tag-dania-beach","tag-entertainment","tag-events","tag-florida","tag-food-and-drink","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news","tag-latest-headlines","tag-restaurants","tag-social","tag-the-eat-beat","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}