#1 Food, Wine & Restaurant Industry Event (up from #2)
More than 100,000 guests and 4,000 volunteers descend upon Gilroy each year for the three-day, family-friendly foodie festival. Known as “Summer’s Ultimate Food Fair,” highlights include cooking events like the garlic showdown and the Garli-Que BBQ Challenge. There’s also live entertainment, art, and a children’s area at the quaint event. Attendees may also run into the Garlic Festival Queen. Next: July 28-30, 2017
#2 Food, Wine & Restaurant Industry Event (new to the list)
More than 200 artists, wineries, resorts, theaters, restaurants, and vintners participate in Festival Napa Valley each year. Founded in 2006, the festival attracts more than 10,000 guests each season for a series of wine and vintner dinners, as well as intimate musical and comedy performances from entertainers like Bill Murray and the touring cast of Hamilton. Next: July 14-23, 2017
#3 Food, Wine & Restaurant Industry Event
Taste of the Nation assembles 80 of the Bay Area’s best restaurants, breweries, wineries, and mixologists for a night of seemingly endless bites and drinks. Each participating restaurant’s executive chef is present to answer questions and accept compliments, so it’s a foodie dream-come-true. The event raises more than $200,000 each year to fight childhood hunger. Next: March 2018
#4 Food, Wine & Restaurant Industry Event (new to the list)
Celebrity chefs like Daniel Boulud, Thomas Keller, and Guy Fieri serve bites paired with outstanding wines. For the last decade, Pebble Beach Food & Wine has been bringing hundreds of the best chefs in America together with the world’s best wineries for a one-of a-kind event set in one of the state’s most picturesque locations. Next: April 2018
#5 Food, Wine & Restaurant Industry Event
Guests sample and purchase futures of the latest wines out of the Alexander, Dry Creek, and Russian River Valleys in Sonoma over the course of two three-day weekends each March. With more than 70 participating wineries, guests may need to hire a driver and pack a picnic basket to power through the weekend. Next: March 2-4 and March 9-11, 2018
#6 Food, Wine & Restaurant Industry Event
In the notoriously expensive Bay Area, Eat Real is a refreshingly affordable event built around regionally sourced street food for $8 or less. Born out of the Food Craft Institute—a nonprofit organization focused on creating and making viable artisan food companies— Eat Real’s mission is to help revitalize regional food systems and encourage American food entrepreneurs. That starts with the free-admission festival, where guests learn where food comes from, who grows it, and how to make it. Next: September 22-24, 2017
#7 Food, Wine & Restaurant Industry Event
Some 40,000 chocolate-lovers gather for tastings at the Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival. The family-friendly event showcases chocolate cooking demonstrations from top dessert chefs, live music, and an “Earthquake” hands-free ice cream sundae eating contest. More than 30 booths from local restaurants, bakeries, and chocolate companies provide dessert samples during the two-day event. Next: September 9-10, 2017
#8 Food, Wine & Restaurant Industry Event
Pork and pinot is a delightful food pairing—and the basis for an entire No Kid Hungry fund-raiser in Healdsburg. Heading into its 13th year, chef Charlie Palmer’s food and wine event pits chef and winemaker teams against one another in culinary competition, while guests get to taste the fruits of their work. Next: March 16-17, 2018
#9 Food, Wine & Restaurant Industry Event (up from #10)
The impossibly chic Le Dîner gives amateur chefs the opportunity to compete for bragging rights and Instagram glory. Handmade Events arranges the location, tables, chairs, and entertainment. Guests provide elaborate tablescapes and meals to dine al fresco, and leave no trace when they leave. Next: October 7, 2017
