This year’s New York City Wine & Food Festival features offerings from celebs and, in a sign of the times, some non-alcoholic fare, Side Dish can exclusively reveal.
Star Sylvester Stallone is slated to attend a dinner that’s part of the fest to tout his Carbonadi Italian Vodka brand.
Bryan Cranston will be at tasting events to promote tequila from the Dos Hombres brand that he co-founded with his “Breaking Bad” co-star Aaron Paul.
Mgk, the artist formerly known as Machine Gun Kelly, will host one of the festival’s first-ever non-alcoholic events.
The sober musician and founder of pop-punk-inspired 27 Club Coffee will host a Sunday morning non-alcohol “Morning Buzz” walk-around with a brunch vibe.
“We’re back with one of our most ambitious and diverse line-ups yet to celebrate everything we love about New York — great food, incredible culture, and entertainment,” said festival founder Lee Schrager.
The festival — based at the Seaport for its second year as part of a multi-year deal, with signature events at the Rooftop of Pier 17 — will be held from Oct. 14 to Oct. 18, with private dinners along the way.
Former cast members of the Real Housewives of New York City, Luann de Lesseps, Dorinda Medley, and Kelly Bensimon are also slated to attend a steak and whiskey event.
It’s a big year for Schrager, who is also chief communications officer at Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, which is the exclusive provider of wine and spirits for the festival. His South Beach Wine & Food Festival celebrated its 25th anniversary in February.
He’s also a partner in a new festival in Europe. The Gstaad Wine & Food Festival will debut next June, with Schrager serving as “operations consultant,” he said.
This year’s NYC festival boasts 300-plus chefs and more than 50 events, from small private dinners to large tastings with live music.
The festival’s first-ever non-alcoholic dinner takes place Oct. 17, hosted by James Beard Award-winning chef Jonathon Sawyer, chef partner at Kindling in Chicago, and Gautier Coiffard, co-founder of Brooklyn-based hotspot L’Appartement 4F. It will happen at The Maze NYC, an alcohol-free members club, and each course will be paired with non-alcoholic beverages.
“People are drinking less. Especially younger people and we always try to do things to follow the business, and follow the trends,” Schrager told Side Dish.
“We are a wine and food event, and these [non-alcoholic] events have plenty of food but no wine,” he added. “There are people who just don’t drink, so why lose out an audience that is pretty popular out there.”
There will still be plenty of ways to celebrate with your favorite chefs and stars.
Stallone is scheduled to attend a sold-out dinner at top chef Andrew Carmellini’s Seaport restaurant Carne Mare.
Famed TV personality Rachael Ray will co-host this year’s “Blue Moon Burger Bash” event with comedian, actor and podcaster Bert Kreischer.
James Beard Award-winning top chef Kwame Onwuachi will also host a late night “New York After Dark” event, inspired by his forthcoming cookbook, “All Hours.” The walk-around tasting will feature a line-up of dishes from his favorite New York restaurants and chefs, including Dustin Everett at Fish Cheeks, Robbie Felice of PastaRamen, Shaw-naé from Shawnae’s House, and Jumoke Jackson from Soulfull Biscuit — with a special performance by DJ Derrick “D-Nice” Jones.
“All Hours really reflects the way I eat and cook right now,” Onwuachi said.
“My life is constantly moving between restaurants, travel, events, family, and food doesn’t always fit neatly into breakfast, lunch and dinner.”
EGOT award winner Whoopi Goldberg will be joining famed chef JJ Johnson and radio personality/entrepreneur Angela Yee, who are back to host “The Cookout,” with hip-hop legend, and entrepreneur Method Man.
Foodies should also be on the lookout for star chef Marcus Samuelsson of Red Rooster, as well as Andrew Rea of @BingingwithBabish, Food Network star Ayesha Nurdjaja of Shuka and Shukette and Food Network veteran Michael Symon. They will all host the grand tastings with culinary demonstrations from chefs and celebrities including mgk, Alex Guarnaschelli, Bryan and Michael Voltaggio, Geoffrey Zakarian, Aarón Sánchez and more.
The fourth edition of FoodieCon featuring some of the country’s top food influencers is also back.
“There is some great talent there. It’s very exciting to see such continued growth,” Schrager said. Top talents at the event include Jake Goldberg, Jenn Lueke, Sarah Thomas-Drawbaugh and Sarah Thomas.
The goal this year is to sell $3 million worth of tickets, said Schrager, and organizers are “three-quarters of the way there as most of the tickets sell in the last two weeks.”
The festival started 19 years ago as a one-night dessert festival called Sweet, followed by years at the Chelsea Market before they outgrew the space. After one year in Brooklyn in 2024, they returned to Manhattan last year.
The festival benefits the James Beard Foundation and the Event Zero Foundation.
We hear … that The Bahamas Culinary & Arts Festival is also launching Oct. 21 to 25. Highlights include Chef Daniel Boulud’s multi-course dinner at Cafe Boulud Baha Mar with star chef alumni participants including Melissa Rodriguez, Andrea Calstier, Elena Oliver, Helen Nguyen, and Yohko Ogata.
A One Republic Concert is also part of the festival, with open-air walk-around tastings and a four course collaborative dinner, The Art of the Plate Foundation Dinner, where each dish is inspired by Caribbean artists and created by Boulud, Top Chef winner Tristan Epps, and Chefs Scott Conant, Esther Choi, Marcus Samuelsson, Dario Cecchini and more. It will coince with the ourht annual FUZE Art Expo led by Bahamian artist John Cox.
