New York City Wine & Food Festival

Celebrating its 15th year, the New York City Wine and Food Festival swooped into Hudson River Park’s Pier 76 and Pier 86 this year with more than 400 chefs, mixologists, and wine and spirits producers. 

The weekend, which was hosted by the Food Network, consisted of 85 events including tastings, dinners, parties, brunches, lunches, master classes, wine tastings and more. I attended the Grand Tasting events on both Friday and Saturday and the Backyard BBQ on Sunday.

Friday’s Grand Tasting was sponsored by Southern Glazer’s, a premium wine and spirits distributor, and hosted by Wine Spectator. With two great names such as these on the event, you could be sure the drinks were going to be good!

Upon landing in New York on Friday, I headed straight to Pier 76 Hudson River Park to check out the event. I found an entire pier packed with visitors hoping to get a bite to eat and something to drink. My favorite dish that I came across was the pork bao from Mao’s Baos. The dumplings were so good that I was happy to brave the line multiple times! Also, to settle my sweet tooth I had an indulgent peanut butter and jelly pretzel by Posh Pretzel – it was worth every calorie!

Saturday’s Grand Tasting featured culinary demonstrations by top chefs such as Robert Irvine, Michael Symon, Anne Burrell and Andrew Zimmern. The event was sponsored by Liebherr Appliances and was watched by an extensive crowd.

Sunday’s event was an exciting one which featured master barbequers. The Backyard BBQ took place in the shadow of the naval aircraft carrier Intrepid. The pier on which the event took place even had the supersonic Concorde parked above the fried chicken stand! 

The level of BBQ on display at the Backyard BBQ was excellent. The Backyard BBQ was hosted by Dario Cecchini, an 8th generation butcher who is widely considered to be the best in the world. His co-host was Andrew Zimmern, the host of Bizarre Foods 

Some of my favorite barbeque dishes came from the likes of Handsome Devil BBQ. I was lucky enough to talk to the team behind their delicious tomahawk steaks. In addition to these, I ate so much pulled pork, brisket, fried chicken and “conceptual BBQ” that I almost needed a wheelbarrow to leave!

Overall, I had a great time at the New York City Wine and Food Festival. With celebrity chef cooking demos, delicious food and drinks, the event was well worth the trip out to New York. At the New York City Wine and Food Festival, I definitely took a bite out of the Big Apple!