New York City Wine & Food Festival 2018: 29 Culinary Highlights From Sponsors and Parties

The party’s centerpiece was a massive ceiling-to-floor rainbow “cake” that displayed the name of the event and festive balloons. The structure resembled a candy-filled “surprise inside” cake.

At Supper Is Served, the festival’s kickoff event celebrating women in the industry, Ovenly bakery served its Brooklyn Blackout Cake. The cake, which consisted of a dark chocolate stout cake with dark chocolate pudding buttercream, displayed the statement, “Women are the answer” in icing. Event host and #MeToo founder Tarana Burke posed with Ovenly co-founder Agatha Kulaga. 

Supper Is Served highlighted dishes from the city’s most notable women chefs and female-owned restaurants. Melba’s in Harlem served mini sweet potato waffles on sticks. 

At rooftop events on Pier 92 throughout the weekend, Capital One served what may have been the festival’s most Instagrammable treat: the Cloud Cone. The dessert consisted of an ice cream cone wrapped in blue or pink cotton candy, with a choice of toppings. Attendees could take pictures of their cone in a Capital One-branded box. The cotton candy was wrapped by Spin Spun All Natural Confections. IMG Live produced the activation. 

At the Grand Tasting presented by ShopRite, which took place Saturday and Sunday at Pier 94, chefs such as Aaron Sanchez prepared dishes live in front of a background image of New York’s Central Park. 

The meal kit service held an immersive culinary experience at the Grand Tasting, which paid homage to three New York neighborhoods: Little Italy and St. Mark’s Place in Manhattan and Sunset Park in Brooklyn. The activation was produced by Civic Entertainment Group and Rebel & Rogue. 

The center of the activation featured a blue replica of the Statue of Liberty, naturally wearing a blue apron. 

At the St. Mark’s Place station, guests were served “Yuzu-ade,” lemonade made with the Japanese citrus fruit yuzu. Guests could also enjoy fontina and ricotta calzones from the Little Italy station and pork and chorizo tacos from the Sunset Park station. 

The official airline sponsor of the festival had an activation inspired by its luxury Flagship lounges at the Grand Tasting. The lounge, which was produced by Geometry Global, featured a check-in area that highlighted the airports where the brand has its Flagship lounges. 

A photo booth resembled the inside of an airplane cabin and included branded pillows. 

Guests were invited to garnish their own cocktails at a garnish station.  

At the Grand Tasting, Maker’s Mark brought a pop-up experience that celebrated makers and their handcrafted traditions. Attendees were invited to sip custom cocktails in a truck designed to recreate the Maker’s Mark distillery in Kentucky. The experience was produced by Geometry Global, and the truck was fabricated by Turtle Transit. 

Inside the truck, Caroline Bender of Papercase Studio created custom calligraphy on cutting boards for guests to take home. 

Festival sponsor LaCroix showcased a citrus-theme booth that used lemons, boxes, and cans of the flavored sparkling water as decor. Attendees could grab free cans throughout the weekend at the Grand Tasting.

Guests could pose with LaCroix can cutouts at a colorful photo booth, which displayed the hashtag #LiveLaCroix as a yellow sign. 

The London-based microdistillery invited attendees to make their own gin cocktails at a copper and green bar at the Grand Tasting. First, bartenders mixed a gin of the attendee’s choice with tonic. Guests were served the drinks in plastic, branded glasses with a gold and white striped paper straw. 

To top off their cocktails, guests could choose from a variety of garnishes. A sign suggested which garnishes paired best with a specific gin. 

Capital One, the presenting sponsor of the festival, hosted a fall-theme activation at the Grand Tasting. Guests could participate in a complimentary cider tasting, drink custom cocktails, and pose for photos in an apple orchard-theme photo booth. The activation was produced by IMG Live. 

The Palm by Whispering Camel rosé served attendees frosé and showcased its signature pink, life-size camel, featuring illustrations of palm trees and the slogan “Save Water, Drink Rosé.”

At the festival’s popular Blue Moon Burger Bash, Blue Apron’s culinary team submitted the Ale Mary Burger, which consisted of a beef burger topped with beer-infused cheese sauce, dijonnaise, pickled cucumbers, and red onions on a toasted pretzel bun.

At events on Pier 92 throughout the weekend, Proscuitto di Carpegna had a station that offered to-go boxes of the Italian meat. Fratelli Beretta became the exclusive importers of the prosciutto this year, finally making the product available in the U.S.

The festival’s title sponsor celebrated its 25th anniversary with a party on Pier 92. The event entrance featured a rainbow balloon installation. The event was produced and designed by Cream (Culinary Related Entertainment and Marketing) and Trigger House in collaboration with the Food Network. 

The party’s step-and-repeat wall displayed the name of the event in a white cutout wall, in front of balloons in a variety of colors. 

The event’s photo booth invited guests to pose in front of a wall of festive party hats. 

Guests could get books signed by Food Network chefs including Ina Garten. The book signing spaces were made to resemble wrapped gift boxes.

At Pier 92 events throughout the weekend, Italian wafer brand Loacker returned with its ski-lodge theme activation inspired by the Dolomites. The lodge gave guests free samples and also served desserts created with the wafers.

A brand ambassador dressed in a festive uniform and the brand’s mascot Mestolo encouraged guests to explore the lodge, which also had a photo booth.

The title sponsor of the Sunday's Backyard BBQ, Coca-Cola served food from Corky’s Memphis BBQ’s pitmaster Jimmy Stovall and a cocktail made with Coca-Cola Georgia Peach and Four Roses bourbon. Melt produced the activation.

Breads Bakery served rose and pistachio rugelach at the Coca-Cola Backyard BBQ. The desserts were presented around a loaf of bread that displayed the festival logo.