1. Gilroy Garlic Festival
#1 Food, Wine & Restaurant Industry Event
Garlic gets a bad rap because gothic writers decided it stinks enough to ward off vampires, but all of that is forgotten at the Gilroy Garlic Festival. More than 100,000 visitors indulge in traditional garlic fare—like garlic fries—to more esoteric items like garlic mule cocktails and garlic ice cream. Plus, all of the garlic served is grown in California, much of it in Gilroy, the “Garlic Capital of the World.” It may be 80 miles south of San Francisco, but this 40-year-old festival is so beloved in the area that transit officials even created a special Caltrain shuttle route to service the event. Next: July 2019
Garlic gets a bad rap because gothic writers decided it stinks enough to ward off vampires, but all of that is forgotten at the Gilroy Garlic Festival. More than 100,000 visitors indulge in traditional garlic fare—like garlic fries—to more esoteric items like garlic mule cocktails and garlic ice cream. Plus, all of the garlic served is grown in California, much of it in Gilroy, the “Garlic Capital of the World.” It may be 80 miles south of San Francisco, but this 40-year-old festival is so beloved in the area that transit officials even created a special Caltrain shuttle route to service the event. Next: July 2019
Photo: Courtesy of Gilroy Garlic Festival
2. Festival Napa Valley
#2 Food, Wine & Restaurant Industry Event
Festival Napa Valley pairs world-class performances with culinary and wine experiences staged in iconic wine country settings. More than 200 artists, wineries, resorts, theaters, restaurants, and vintners participate, along with 12,000 guests. In 2018, Joshua Bell, Kristin Chenoweth, and San Francisco Ballet dancers helped bring star power to the multi-week event, which raised $2.5 million for arts programs in the area. Next: July 12-21, 2019
Festival Napa Valley pairs world-class performances with culinary and wine experiences staged in iconic wine country settings. More than 200 artists, wineries, resorts, theaters, restaurants, and vintners participate, along with 12,000 guests. In 2018, Joshua Bell, Kristin Chenoweth, and San Francisco Ballet dancers helped bring star power to the multi-week event, which raised $2.5 million for arts programs in the area. Next: July 12-21, 2019
Photo: Bob McClenahan
3. Taste of the Nation
#3 Food, Wine & Restaurant Industry Event
Culinary fans have a hard time containing their excitement at Taste of the Nation because the event assembles the city’s best chefs in the same room. Have a question about food or wine? This is the crowd to ask. More than 80 restaurants, breweries, wineries, and mixologists come together for the Share Our Strength fund-raiser, feeding and pouring drinks for more than 1,200 guests. The event raised more than $223,000 in 2018 to combat childhood hunger. Next: March 2019
Culinary fans have a hard time containing their excitement at Taste of the Nation because the event assembles the city’s best chefs in the same room. Have a question about food or wine? This is the crowd to ask. More than 80 restaurants, breweries, wineries, and mixologists come together for the Share Our Strength fund-raiser, feeding and pouring drinks for more than 1,200 guests. The event raised more than $223,000 in 2018 to combat childhood hunger. Next: March 2019
Photo: Ian Teraoka
4. Pebble Beach Food & Wine
#4 Food, Wine & Restaurant Industry Event
Galas, after-hours parties, and golf tournaments: Pebble Beach Food & Wine does not quit. The self-described “premier epicurean lifestyle event on the West Coast” matches 250 wineries and 100 celebrity chefs for “a hedonistic four-day destination on one of the most picturesque strips of coastline in the world.” Food by the likes of Daniel Boulud, Ravi Kapur, and Angie Mar, plus golf at Pebble Beach? That’s a winning combination. Next: Spring 2019
Galas, after-hours parties, and golf tournaments: Pebble Beach Food & Wine does not quit. The self-described “premier epicurean lifestyle event on the West Coast” matches 250 wineries and 100 celebrity chefs for “a hedonistic four-day destination on one of the most picturesque strips of coastline in the world.” Food by the likes of Daniel Boulud, Ravi Kapur, and Angie Mar, plus golf at Pebble Beach? That’s a winning combination. Next: Spring 2019
Photo: Courtesy of Pebble Beach Food & Wine
5. Sonoma Wine Road Barrel Weekend
#5 Food, Wine & Restaurant Industry Event
Before wine is bottled, it has to age in the barrel—but the Sonoma Wine Road Barrel Weekend offers wine-lovers a taste of the vintages to come. Beth Costa, executive director of Wine Road, describes Barrel Weekend as “an educational weekend where you learn about the work winemakers put into their wines after harvest, but before the wine is bottled.” It’s also a chance to invest in hard-to-find, limited-production wines by buying futures. More than 70 wineries participate and 5,000 visitors attend over the course of two weekends each spring. Vintner’s pours tend to be generous, so designated drivers are a good investment. Next: March 1-3 & March 8-10, 2019
Before wine is bottled, it has to age in the barrel—but the Sonoma Wine Road Barrel Weekend offers wine-lovers a taste of the vintages to come. Beth Costa, executive director of Wine Road, describes Barrel Weekend as “an educational weekend where you learn about the work winemakers put into their wines after harvest, but before the wine is bottled.” It’s also a chance to invest in hard-to-find, limited-production wines by buying futures. More than 70 wineries participate and 5,000 visitors attend over the course of two weekends each spring. Vintner’s pours tend to be generous, so designated drivers are a good investment. Next: March 1-3 & March 8-10, 2019
Photo: Courtesy of Sonoma Wine Road Barrel Weekend
6. Eat Real Fast
#6 Food, Wine & Restaurant Industry Event
Cheap, healthy-ish food exists in the Bay Area, and Eat Real Fest in Oakland has the inside track on affordable, regionally sourced street food. More than 50 vendors participate in the free-admission festival, where visitors can learn where food comes from, who grows it, and how to make it. Next: September 14-16, 2018
Cheap, healthy-ish food exists in the Bay Area, and Eat Real Fest in Oakland has the inside track on affordable, regionally sourced street food. More than 50 vendors participate in the free-admission festival, where visitors can learn where food comes from, who grows it, and how to make it. Next: September 14-16, 2018
Photo: Nicola Parisi
7. Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival
#7 Food, Wine & Restaurant Industry Event
The sweetest event on the foodie calendar, Ghirardelli’s 23rd annual Chocolate Festival includes loads of chocolate samples, dessert demonstrations by celebrity chefs, and a Ghirardelli Chocolate Master teaching “Chocolate School” at the Culinary Stage. The event attracts 40,000 chocolate-lovers annually, and guests get to leave with sugary reminders of the fun. Next: September 8-9, 2018
The sweetest event on the foodie calendar, Ghirardelli’s 23rd annual Chocolate Festival includes loads of chocolate samples, dessert demonstrations by celebrity chefs, and a Ghirardelli Chocolate Master teaching “Chocolate School” at the Culinary Stage. The event attracts 40,000 chocolate-lovers annually, and guests get to leave with sugary reminders of the fun. Next: September 8-9, 2018
Photo: Peter DaSilva
8. Exploratorium's Science of Cocktails
#8 Food, Wine & Restaurant Industry Event (new to the list)
Fact: Science is considerably more fun when you can drink your homework. That’s the driving force behind Science of Cocktails, the Exploratorium’s eight-year-old booze-focused fund-raiser. In 2018, the event included more than 20 bar sponsors, two ice luges, one ball pit, and 400 Gummies Under the Influence. More than 1,600 guests sidled up to the science bar, knocking back 8,000 cocktails and raising more than $120,000 for the museum. Next: February 8, 2019
Fact: Science is considerably more fun when you can drink your homework. That’s the driving force behind Science of Cocktails, the Exploratorium’s eight-year-old booze-focused fund-raiser. In 2018, the event included more than 20 bar sponsors, two ice luges, one ball pit, and 400 Gummies Under the Influence. More than 1,600 guests sidled up to the science bar, knocking back 8,000 cocktails and raising more than $120,000 for the museum. Next: February 8, 2019
Photo: Gayle Laird
9. San Francisco Cheese Fest
#9 Food, Wine & Restaurant Industry Event (new to the list)
Thanks to the 1976 Judgment of Paris, the world knows that Northern California is really good at making wine—but it’s also skilled in creating wine’s best friend, cheese. San Francisco’s Cheese Fest spreads the good word of local cheese with a two-day tasting and education program featuring more than a dozen cheesemakers. In 2018, the festival will be celebrating cheeses made with all four types of milk—cow, goat, sheep, and water buffalo—for the first time. Proceeds from the event, which sells out every year, benefit the California Artisan Cheese Guild. Next: September 15-16, 2018
Thanks to the 1976 Judgment of Paris, the world knows that Northern California is really good at making wine—but it’s also skilled in creating wine’s best friend, cheese. San Francisco’s Cheese Fest spreads the good word of local cheese with a two-day tasting and education program featuring more than a dozen cheesemakers. In 2018, the festival will be celebrating cheeses made with all four types of milk—cow, goat, sheep, and water buffalo—for the first time. Proceeds from the event, which sells out every year, benefit the California Artisan Cheese Guild. Next: September 15-16, 2018
Photo: Ellen Cronin
