For the first time in 17 years, the New York City Wine & Food Festival will leave Manhattan for a showcase event on the Brooklyn waterfront, reinforcing the borough's growing foodie credentials.
The annual event, which will run from Oct. 17 to 20, will see a giant tent set up at the Invesco QQQ campus at Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park, where some of the world's best chefs will showcase their dishes under a temporary roof in a 450,000-square-foot outdoor space.
“This is not a smear campaign against Manhattan,” festival founder and director Lee Bryan Schrager told Side Dish.
“We wanted to make the area safe for use by everyone, even if it rains.”
In past years, the event was held on a Manhattan pier, where tents couldn't be pitched and festival-goers risked getting soaked while traveling between the various venues.
Now, a ferry will transport foodies from Wall Street to the Brooklyn Pier near 59th Street for the gourmet spectacle, which attracted 43,000 people last year.
Restaurateur Matthew Glazier, owner of Tiny's Cantina, a popular spot for celebrities and star athletes near the Barclays Center, is looking forward to attending the event in his hometown.
“Brooklyn's food culture is as diverse as its residents, making it a top dining destination,” Glaser told Side Dish. “Post-COVID, Brooklyn's resilience has outpaced Manhattan.”
When NYCWFF began 17 years ago, its signature event, Burger Bash, was held in a tobacco warehouse in Dumbo, Brooklyn, so in a way, it's returning to its roots.
“People said we were crazy, that we couldn't do it there, but we were well-received and watched Brooklyn grow into one of the hottest restaurant districts in the country,” Schrager said.
The festival isn't retreating from Manhattan entirely: It will still feature intimate brunches, dinners and “mid-sized” events for 600 to 1,000 people, Schrager added.
Many of them take place at One World Trade Center and the nearby Halle des Lumieres New York.
The festival will kick off on October 17 with Brooklyn Eats & Beats, featuring top Brooklyn chefs Esther Choi, Billy Durney, Sean Feeney, Mark Iacono and Michael Solomonov along with 25 of Brooklyn's iconic restaurants. Other Brooklyn events include: Oyster Bash with Andrew Zimmern at Fornino Brooklyn Bridge Park and Cafe Spaghetti x Casa Mono.
Chef Bobby Flay will be returning to the festival for the first time in seven years, and top chefs Gabriele Bertoccini, Alex Guarnaschelli, Vikas Khanna, Duff Goldman and Geoffrey Zakarian will also be taking part in the festival, which benefits the charity God Love We Deliver.
Anticipated events include: Ciao House: A Taste of Italy at the Halle des Lumieres in Lower Manhattan, hosted by Gabriele Bertoccini and Alex Guarnaschelli. Drug Disco The Cutting Room, hosted by David Burtka and Neil Patrick Harris, Mediterranean Meze Lunch Presented by Genoa Premium Tuna and hosted by Michael Simon at Halle des Lumieres. Caviar meets cocktails ASPIRE at One World Observatory and Sunday hosted by Scott Conant and Antonia Lofaso Lunch at Le Coucou Hosted by Daniel Rose, Melissa Ben Ishay and Maddie DeVita.
The festival will also feature 30 one-night-only private dinners as part of the Bank of America Dinner Series, featuring premium wines and spirits from the festival's exclusive provider, Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits, and curated by culinary stars including Daniel Boulud, Marcus Samuelsson, Amanda Freitag, Aisha Narjaja and Martha Stewart.
This year, NYCWFF will feature more celebrities than ever before, especially those promoting their own brands, including rappers Snoop Doog, Dre, 50 Cent and Hollywood A-lister Blake Lively.
Betty Boo's founder, Lively, will host a Betty Boo's Harvest Happy Hour at the Lawn Club at the Seaport.
“It's a natural progression: chefs got into pots and pans, and now celebrities are getting into alcohol brands,” Schrager said.
