It was hard to miss Rachel Ray’s entourage as she sashayed from burger stand to burger stand stuffing her face with beef at the first event at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival.

There was already a crowd of several thousand crammed into the beach tent. Surrounding Rachel Ray alone were five beefy (Ha! Get it!?) guys, other cable-only celebrities and Average Joes me angling to get a picture of the 30-Minute Meal diva in all her burger noshing glory.

But if you were already drunk off the free meat and Amstel light, then you might have missed the one Burger Bash attendant who we thought was worth our time: Tom Colicchio (host of tonight’s BubbleQ).

He was not a judge in the event. He was not even a featured guest. He was just hanging out by himself walking and eating burgers just far enough behind the wake of the Rachel Ray fame-express.

Still, Tom was in good spirits and even entertained a few requests for tourist-style photos from some of you “non-celebrity” types.

He would not answer any questions about why Fabio got sent home (It’s Top Chef, not Top glib joke maker). But he did hang around for an hour or more gabbing with burger chefs from New York.

In the end, though, our buddy Spike Mendelsohn took home the victory in all three categories as the best dressed burger, the judges’ favorite, and the People’s Choice.

Stay tuned for more pictures, videos and updates from South Beach. Or head here for some more photos from the Burger Bash.