Hungry fans, chefs, and food and beverage brands ate their hearts out at the seventh annual New York City Wine & Food Festival, held October 16 to 19. The four-day festival, with Food Network as its title sponsor, featured dinners, tastings, late-night parties, and seminars at venues across the city, with popular events like the Blue Moon Burger Bash and the Grand Tasting presented by ShopRite taking place at Piers 92 and 94 in Midtown.
This year’s program boasted more than 25 intimate dinners with renowned chefs, such as David Bouley and Yotam Ottolenghi, along with a special dinner celebrating the 40th anniversary of Le Cirque restaurant, as part of the Bank of America Dinner Series. Organizers also introduced several new events, including Hot Dog Happy Hour with Mo Rocca, Dominique Ansel’s Wonderland, and Down-Home Country Brunch hosted by Trisha Yearwood.
Fan favorites, such as Jets & Chefs: The Ultimate Tailgate hosted by Mario Batali and Tacos & Tequila: A Late Night Fiesta hosted by Bobby Flay, returned to the lineup, as well. Meatopia X: The Carnivore’s Ball hosted by Michael Symon closed out the foodie festival; the meat-centric gathering saw chefs cooking beef, pork, lamb, poultry, and wild game over live wood fires, with celebrity butcher Pat LaFrieda cooking and serving the pièce de résistance—a 1,000-pound steer.
In addition to the top-notch cooking, brands, sponsors, and partners, such as Delta, J.C. Penney, KitchenAid, and Ronzoni, presented customized activations and integrations that catered to each event's crowd and theme.
All proceeds from the festival benefit hunger relief organizations No Kid Hungry and Food Bank for New York City.