NYC Wine & Food Festival could boost struggling – Business News
After a one-year stint in Brooklyn, The New York City Wine & Food Festival will likely be back in Manhattan this week — probably giving a much-needed boost to the South Street Seaport.
Now in its 18th 12 months, NYCWFF runs this Wednesday by way of Sunday and has an all-star lineup led by Jean-Georges Vongerichten. As the competition’s first “culinary curator,” he’ll oversee more than 50 occasions – from grand tastings to an intimate $2,000 per ticket dinner for 12 people hosted by high chef and humanitarian José Andrés.
In 2016, Vongerichten partnered with the Howard Hughes Corporation to remodel the Seaport’s historic Tin Building into a eating vacation spot. The food mecca has struggled since its 2022 opening, however the competition could energize the neighborhood, based on Lee Brian Schrager, the competition’s founder.
NYCWFF founder Lee Schrager and Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten eventually 12 months’s competition, Getty Images for NYCWFF
“I hope it will be as good for them as it will be for us,” he mentioned. “A lot of people have never been there or they’ve just been once, so I hope this will be a good opportunity to reintroduce the Seaport.”
The nabe is but to see a long hoped-for increase.
Hedge funder Bill Ackman’s Seaport Entertainment Group (SEG) lately offered 250 Water St., positioned across the nook from the Tin Building, for $150.5 million. The sale marked a roughly $110 million loss on the property SEG purchased in 2018. The group deserted plans for a 27-story, multiuse tower within the face of sturdy neighborhood resistance.
Compared to Brooklyn, the South Street Seaport is a more central location for restaurateurs, who instructed Side Dish there have been just too many logistical challenges to transporting their dishes to the borough for the competition final October. Getting Manhattanites to cross the bridge for a number of occasions was additionally an impediment, restaurateurs mentioned.
Compared to Brooklyn, the South Street Seaport is a more central location for restaurateurs, who instructed Side Dish there have been just too many logistical challenges to transporting their dishes to the borough for the competition final October. Getty Images for NYCWFF
“We had moved to Brooklyn because we had outgrown our space — we had started 18 years ago in the Meatpacking District — and I didn’t want to use the Javits Center,” mentioned Schrager, who can be the chief communications officer for Southern Glazer’s Wine And Spirits, the unique supplier of wine and spirits for the competition.
Big Apple choices for big gatherings are restricted, Schrager famous.
“Half of the piers are crumbling and falling into the water, so you are really limited,” Schrager mentioned. “Last 12 months’s competition was too unfold out. It was in Brooklyn and downtown Manhattan and our customers and expertise have been torn everywhere.
The New York City Wine & Food Festival begins Wednesday and runs by way of Sunday. Getty Images for NYCWFF
“I had wanted to bring it to the Seaport for the past 15 years, and after it ended last year, I emailed Jean-Georges and asked him to help me move it to the Seaport, and he did.”
This week, NYCWFF is set to start with “A Taste of the Tin Building,” hosted by Vongerichten and Gregory Gourdet and that includes music by DJ Cassidy. Rachael Ray is back to host Blue Moon Burger Bash with co-host Brooklyn Beckham, introduced by Pat LaFrieda Meats.
More than 50 occasions will likely be going down. Getty Images for NYCWFF
Ray is internet hosting a $2,000 per ticket dinner of her own. Although her occasion has offered out, “two seats have opened up at the José Andrés dinner as the winemaker decided to attend the event but not as a seated guest,” Schrager mentioned.
There’s additionally a Grand Tasting that includes Gotham’s best bites and eating places plus Southern Glazer’s wines and spirits. Sofia Vergara and her son Manolo will host the feast. A second night session will likely be hosted by Food Network star cooks Bobby Flay and Brooke Williamson – with the option for diners so as to add on a “VIP steak-focused” occasion at Carmellini’s Carne Mare – Schrager mentioned. He added that this 12 months the competition will benefit The Event Zero Foundation, which promotes sustainability, and the James Beard Foundation.
Highlights may even embrace an Asian Night Market hosted by Padma Lakshmi and Vongerichten.
Chef Marcus Samuelsson, proper. Getty Images for NYCWFF
Owen Han, Schrager and Alex Guarnaschelli eventually 12 months’s competition. Getty Images for NYCWFF
Additional eating experiences will likely be hosted by Dan Kluger and Alice Waters, Paul Carmichael and Kwame Onwuachi, Michael White and Andrew Zimmern, and Daniel Boulud and George Ruan.
Additional collaborating star cooks and maestros embrace Eric Ripert, Eyal Shani, Michael Symon, Emilio Vitolo, Tony Shalhoub and more. Drew Nieperont, of Nobu and Tribeca Grill fame, will host a lunch. The restaurateur is out with a new e-book, “I’m Not Trying to be Difficult: Stories from the Restaurant Trenches.”
Some inventive touches embrace a gathering for social culinary creators and one other for cookbook authors and “culinary storytellers” together with actress Brie Larson, who’s out with a new cookbook known as “Party People.”
Vongerichten, Martha Stewart and Daniel Boulud at Four Twenty Five final 12 months. Getty Images for NYCWFF
The competition has offered round $2 million value of tickets thus far, Schrager mentioned, which is “right on track,” as probably the most tickets are offered the week of the competition.
We hear … James Beard Award-winning chef JJ Johnson has launched his own spinoff barbeque competition, The Cookout. He is internet hosting the occasion, which can benefit the nonprofit Rethink Food, with Angela Yee.
The competition, costing up to $200 per ticket for a most of 350 people, is that this coming Saturday on the historic St. Bart’s on 51st Street and Park Avenue. The purpose is to deliver collectively food, music and neighborhood in a “purpose-driven celebration” of Afro-Caribbean and African-American tradition, Johnson mentioned.
Beard Award-winning chef JJ Johnson (middle) has launched his own spinoff barbeque competition. Felipe Bedoya
“Growing up, the cookout was one of the few spaces where everyone showed up as they were and left full in every sense—nourishment, culture, entertainment, community and purpose,” he instructed Side Dish. “With this event, I am honoring that tradition while also bringing together new generations of diverse chefs and food enthusiasts.”
Ten p.c of all ticket gross sales will likely be donated to feeding New Yorkers, he added.
Featured cooks and culinary companions embrace Johnson, of Fieldtrip; Chef Preston Clark, of Lure; Osei “Picky” Blackett, of Ariapita; Ben “Moody” Harney, of The Real different Shucker; India Doris, of Markette; and Sugar Hill Creamery.
We hear … The Bahamas Culinary & Arts Festival runs Oct. 22 to 26, with Lenny Kravitz acting on Oct. 24.
The competition will likely be held at Baha Mar, a luxurious resort complicated in Nassau. It options high cooks Daniel Boulud, Marcus Samuelsson, Dario Cecchini and Scott Conant, together with Simeon Hall Jr., Amanda Freitag, Carla Hall, Maneet Chauhan and Geoffrey Zakarian.
Food has grow to be a main draw for developments, culinary consultants say.
Lenny Kravitz is perfomring on the Bahamas Culinary & Arts Festival. MARK SELIGER
Boulud, who operates Café Boulud The Bahamas at Rosewood Baha Mar, is set to host a truffle dinner. A stay music occasion with “island-inspired cuisine” by Samuelsson and Conant may even be held. Conant will host a Tuscan lunch and different occasions.
Kravitz’s ties to the Bahamas run deep. It’s the place his late mom, the actor Roxie Roker, got here from. (His late father Sy Kravitz was an NBC producer.) The competition may even host the third annual Fuze Art Expo, with more than 85 artists and galleries from 17 nations.
We hear … that Harvest-A Benefit for Union Square Park will happen Nov. 13, bringing Union Square’s high cooks and eateries collectively to benefit the park. That contains new eating places, like Vinile Italian Chophouse and veteran restaurateur John McDonald’s soon-to-open seafood eatery Seahorse, in addition to the beloved classics the the world is thought for – from Gramercy Tavern and Union Square Cafe to Craft, Tarallucci e Vino and Knickerbocker Bar & Grill.
Additional spots embrace Jazba, Reyna, Mission Ceviche, Daily Provisions, Breads Bakery, Vallata, Javelina, Yakiniku Futago, Unregular Pizza, Rosa Mexicano, Schmackary’s, Breezy Hill Orchard, La Pizza, The Stand and Joey Roses. The new Time Out Market Union Square may even be half of the expertise, that includes high distributors together with Taqueria El Chato, Kam Rai Thai and Fornino. Beverages will come from Martiny’s, Lillie’s Victorian Establishment, Oscar Wilde, Torch & Crown Brewing Company, Joe’s Coffee, Out East and Avontuur Gin.
