New York City Wine & Food Festival bursts back with first full programming since before pandemic
Oh, food and wine, how do we love thee? Let us count the ways.
For the New York City Wine & Food Festival, there are at least 85. That’s how many events, side parties, tastings, master classes, seminars, intimate dinners and celebrity appearances are featured this year, which also marks the vaunted festival’s first full-fledged return since before the coronavirus pandemic hit.
“After two rough years in New York City the festival is back, bigger than ever,” founder and director Lee Schrager told the Daily News, noting that chefs, bartenders and more are participating from all five boroughs. “We’re all over — Long Island City, Manhattan.”
The festival’s hub is Hudson River Park’s Pier 76 and Pier 86, home of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, where two sprawling, outdoor areas will showcase the nation’s most talented chefs and culinary personalities from Oct. 13 to 16. But the action is infused throughout the city, and more than 400 chefs from around the world will be on hand to celebrate the festival’s 15th year at numerous venues.
Eat burgers with popular chef and host Rachael Ray. Glimpse actress Whoopi Goldberg at Peroni’s Taste of Italy, presided over by celebrity chefs Alex Guarnaschelli and Scott Conant. Hit a backyard barbecue hosted by hosts Andrew Zimmern and Dario Cecchini.
Take a class with “Iron Chef” Masaharu Morimoto, and get schooled in Ukrainian fare by the team at famed East Village eatery Veselka. And what’s not to like about an Ultimate Pizza Party, where Buddy Valastro of “Cake Boss” fame will demonstrate his dexterity with pies?
While the festival did go on last year, it was much smaller, and COVID-19 protocols were strict. This year things have loosened up a little, though the plexiglass barriers between food stations will still be in evidence.
That and a few other things are different this year. Most notably, Schrager told The News, it was difficult for many restaurant owners to peel away from their operations because they did not have the staff.
It’s “hard to leave their restaurant and support this,” he said, explaining that it took longer than usual to lock in talent this year. “It’s getting better. It took longer this year.”
Nonetheless, sales are at 2019 levels, Schrager said.
“I think people are really excited to eat, drink and educate themselves,” he said.
For those venues whose owners were able to peel off staff to come participate, the festival is a boon.
“We are thrilled to be a part of New York City Wine and Food Festival’s 15th Anniversary Dessert Party,” Carnegie Deli CEO Sarri Harper said in a statement to The News. “We are honored to have our Chocolate Covered Cheesecake Bites featured among desserts from NYC’s best chefs and restaurants, and to help support New York’s leading provider of life-sustaining meals, God’s Love We Deliver.”
For the second year in a row, the main partner and charity beneficiary is God’s Love We Deliver, and the festival has raised millions over the years to help feed New Yorkers who are too ill or old to cook for themselves.
Libations will flow plentifully, but not just the festival’s titular wine — though fermented grape juice will indeed abound.
“We’ve got some fantastic Napa producers — some small, some large,” said Joseph Edgar of Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, who is curating much of the wine for the festival. “Accendo is a notable small producer that is really well respected in Napa. And also Quintera, which is a Rutherford single vineyard producer.”
As if fine wine, scrumptious eats and charity donations weren’t enough, the festival also injects literal spirits into the mix.
“We’ll have 40 producers of craft spirits,” Edgar said. “There’s so much diversity in there, and people who love craft spirits and specialty cocktails will really enjoy it. Come out and taste some fantastic wines and spirits.”
