Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

Feasting: New York City Wine & Food Festival 2015

Amanda Gabriele
By

Feasting is our column dedicated to cooking, grilling, eating and discovering what’s on the menu across America and the world.

It’s October, which is always good news for hungry New Yorkers. Back for its eighth consecutive year, the New York City Wine & Food Festival is descending on the Big Apple, bringing together the world’s greatest chefs, winemakers, spirits distillers and culinary personalities to educate, entertain, and feed attendees. A sister event to the South Beach Wine & Food Festival, it’s the only fest in New York that unites culinary icons from around the globe and America’s most adored television chefs. The best part? One-hundred percent of net proceeds benefit the Food Bank for NYC, and they’ve raised $8.5 million to date.

Recommended Videos

To learn more about what to expect from this year’s fest, we caught up with NYCWFF Founder and Director Lee Brian Schrager. Check out the Q&A with him below and our picks for the events we’re most looking forward to this year.

NYCWFF
Image used with permission by copyright holder

You founded the NYCWFF seven years ago, and it’s been a great success ever since. What really drove you to start this amazing yearly series of events?

NYCWFF is modeled after the success of its sister SOBEWFF – which will celebrate 15 years next February. We did an event in New York City in 2007 called SWEET to start gauging interest of consumers, talent and partners in potentially making it something larger. In 2008, we officially started the Food Network & Cooking Channel New York City Wine & Food Festival as it occurs today, raising $8.5 million to date for Food Bank For New York City and No Kid Hungry®.

In 2014, NYCWFF raised more than $1 million for the Food Bank of NYC (and No Kid Hungry). Do you know what types of initiatives the Food Bank funds with your donation?

During a recent conversation with Food Bank For New York City President & CEO Margarette Purvis, she mentioned last year they were able to provide more than 2.5 million meals with 2014’s proceeds – that’s an incredible number.

Related: Feel Good Friday: Feast Portland

What event(s) are you most looking forward to this year? Whose food are you most excited to taste?

That’s a little like asking someone to choose their favorite child – I’m looking forward to all of them.  I think our Ramen Party that’s new this year will be really great, and the return of Meatopia, hosted by Michael Symon, to close-out the Festival is always delicious.

NYCWFF
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Any tips for the first time attendee on how to pace him or herself when doing a tasting?

Remember to drink lots of water and wear comfortable shoes.

With so many events to choose from, navigating the NYCWFF can be a little overwhelming. To help you make educated decisions, listed some of the events we’re most looking forward to this year.

Blue Moon Burger Bash
Presented by Pat LaFrieda, Hosted by Rachel Ray
This is one of our favorite events of the fest, we look forward to it every year. Sample delicious, juicy burgers from some of the best chefs and restaurants in town including Michael White, Angie Mar and Shake Shack while enjoying views of the city skyline on Pier 92. And for the first time ever, you’ll be able to dig into some of the best mac and cheese dishes with the Burger Bash’s brand new Smack Down contest. Tickets

NYCWFF
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Jets + Chefs: The Ultimate Tailgate
Hosted by Joe Namath and Mario Batali
If you’re looking for a family-friendly event that adults will love just as much as the kids, join Mario Batali, Joe Namath and other former and current New York Jets players for a day of games and delicious eats. Chefs from restaurants like Num Pang Sandwich Shop, American Cut and Artichoke Basille’s Pizza will be recreated tailgating favorites like steaks, ribs and wings for a mouthwatering twist on the classics.
Tickets

Meatopia
Presented by Creekstone Farms, Hosted by Michael Symon
Created and envisioned by the late James Beard Award-winning writer and Manual contributor Josh Ozersky, Meatopia is not to be missed. With a simple mission to cook every part of every animal over open fires, the “Whole Animal Court” will include whole hogs, lambs and goats along with beef, chicken, duck, turkey and quail. And with chefs participating from restaurants like Brindle Room, Hill Country Barbecue and Hometown Bar-B-Que, you know the meat sweats will be worth every bite. Tickets

Amanda Gabriele
Amanda Gabriele
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Amanda Gabriele is a food and travel writer at The Manual and the former senior editor at Supercall. She can’t live without…
This is why you add water to whiskey (plus, our best tips)
Why adding water to whiskey works
Whiskey in a glass

We aren’t in the business of telling you how to enjoy your whiskey. Whether you like it mixed into a classic cocktail, neat, on the rocks, imbibed out of a ram’s horn, or even an old shoe you found by the railyard (although we’d probably advise against that if possible), we don’t care. That’s your prerogative. But, depending on the whiskey, there are a few ways to heighten the experience.

One of the best ways to heighten your whiskey-tasting experience is to add water. And no, we aren’t talking about a cup of water; we’re talking about a few splashes. Why should you do this? Keep reading, and you’ll never look at whiskey and water the same way again.
The whiskey-tasting experience

Read more
Don’t make this super common mistake when chilling wine in an ice bucket
Chill your wine easily without the need for any expensive equipment.
Rose wine in ice bucket

When it comes to chilling wine, there are countless ways to get the job done. The market is saturated with products made specifically for cooling wine down to the perfect drinking temperature, from luxurious wine refrigerators to elegant marble wine chillers. We can almost guarantee that the passionate wine lover in your life probably has a pantry full of these fancy contraptions, each one more exciting (and expensive) than the last. After all, wine is an art and enjoying it at the correct temperature is an absolute must. At the end of the day, though, even with all the bells and whistles, it's hard to beat a good old-fashioned ice bath - especially when trying to cool down that wine in a hurry. But, as simple as this wine-chilling technique may be, it is possible to get it wrong. That's why we've collected a few tips and tricks for getting that wine chilled exactly right every time.
Order matters when chilling wine

While the more aesthetically pleasing option may be to fill your favorite wine chilling bucket with ice and simply nestle in your favorite bottle or two, this method is actually pretty ineffective when it comes to chilling wine in a pinch. By dumping ice into a container and plopping the wine on top, only the bottom half of the bottle will actually chill. It's important to fully cover your wine (or other beverage) bottles with ice so that the entire bottle has a chance to actually get cold. Do this by putting your bottle(s) in the bucket first, and then topping with ice - not the other way around. The more the bottle is covered with ice, the better. While this might not get you the sexiest photo shoot of your wine luxuriously resting in an ice bath, it's the better way to get the contents cold.
Use water and...salt?

Read more
These are the 10 most popular cocktails in the U.S.
The ten most popular cocktails might surprise you
most popular cocktails friends toasting with

You might not realize it, but there was a time when Americans weren’t so into cocktails. You couldn’t visit seemingly any city or town and find a few cocktail bars to visit. Your best option was a swanky hotel bar or a local bartender who happened to know how to make a whiskey sour. This all changed during the cocktail renaissance of the early aughts. More bartenders and drinkers got excited about rediscovering long-forgotten drinks while breathing new life into some that they took for granted.

Fast-forward to today, when bartenders are the new celebrity chefs of the world, and cocktail bars continue to pop up everywhere from Bakersfield to Baton Rouge. Wouldn’t you like to know what cocktails drinkers enjoy more than others in this now mixed-drink-saturated country? Thanks to NielsenIQ, you can.

Read more