First Timers’ Festival Guide
Walk-Around Tastings
Our signature Walk-Around Tasting events offer so many opportunities to sample dishes and drinks created just for the Festival by NYC’s top chefs and restaurants. Get ready to eat your heart out because tickets to Walk-Around Tasting events let you enjoy all the food and drink offered for the price of admission. Get your fill at these themed events while you and your friends mingle with your favorite chefs and take in the best food, wine and spirits New York City has to offer.
Signature Events
The Festival is lucky to call Pier 86, Home of the Intrepid Museum, headquarters for our largest and most popular all-inclusive events. What makes these events so special? Our legendary Pier Parties have it all: celebrities, live music, great vibes, breathtaking views and even better food and drink served up by the city’s finest. Join us for one of these ultimate Walk-Around Tasting events to try the best burgers, Italian food, tacos and barbecue around. These are the hottest tickets of the Festival, and if you’ve never attended NYCWFF they’re a great place to start.
Insider’s tip! Capital One Cardholders can be one of the first to enter these events with the purchase of a Capital One Early Entry ticket.
The Grand Tasting
There is no better event for food and wine lovers than our Grand Tasting. Top NYC restaurants, wine and spirits brands and today’s most innovative food-focused products are all on hand to treat you to a full day of culinary excellence at our most well-known event. Besides delicious bites, more than 200 wines and spirits from Southern Glazer’s expansive portfolio will be on offer all day long at Hudson River Park’s Pier 76. Plus, visit the Culinary Demo Stage where your favorite Food Network personalities will share recipes and techniques then sign cookbooks just for you.
While the Grand Tasting is for those of legal drinking age only, the Culinary Demo Stage is open to foodies of all ages.
Intimate Dinners
Our Intimate Dinner Series brings together the best chefs from New York City and beyond for once in a lifetime dining experiences. At these exclusive dinners, world-renowned chefs pair up to cook exquisite tasting menus that showcase their personal culinary styles all expertly paired with wine and spirits from Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits’ massive portfolio. These dinners are unique to NYCWFF and take place at some of NYC’s most critically acclaimed venues and restaurants. By nature of their exclusivity, each dinner has a limited number of seats; we recommend buying tickets early so you don’t miss the opportunity to experience a meal with these legendary chefs.
Brunches & Lunches
At NYCWFF, we take brunch seriously. Join us to start the day off right by sampling, schmoozing, sipping and indulging at one of our dazzling walk around tasting brunches or luxurious seated lunches from incredible chefs at exclusive venues. Our walk-around brunches offer the best brunch dishes in the city all in one place, let you eat all the sweet and savory dishes you can handle and include wine, spirits and cocktails from top shelf brands. Seated brunches offer carefully crafted tasting menus paired with excellent cocktails and wine at hard to get into NYC restaurants. Expect the best of brunch plus live entertainment and all the good vibes you’ve come to expect from the Festival.
Master Classes
If you’ve ever wanted to cook in the kitchen with one of the nation’s top chefs, Master Classes are here to make your dreams come true. We are giving you access to learn directly from the best in the business. You’ll get hands-on and create dishes and drinks that will make you feel like a Michelin starred chef yourself. In each class, you’ll cook beside top chefs, learn new tips and tricks and leave with a new set of kitchen skills. We even have a special class with Duff Goldman for budding young chefs! Events will be held in the guest chefs’ restaurants or at NYC’s top culinary school, the Institute of Culinary Education.
Capital One
Capital One Cardholders get first access to NYCWFF tickets and special offers including Pre-Sale tickets, discounted admission and exclusive events during the Festival. Perks include early entry to signature events, preferred pricing and Cardholder only dinners and workshops, giving Capital One Cardholders the ultimate Festival experience. Your friends will be jealous once you’ve become an ultimate sushi master and dined with chefs they only dream about meeting.
Cocktails and Spirits
Love a good cocktail? Us too. That’s why our Festival is dedicated to offering you access to the best wines and spirits on the market thanks to our exclusive provider, Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits. You’ll taste everything from sparkling wine to aged bourbon, spiked seltzer and a ton of tequila throughout the weekend. You’ll sip whiskey neat at our Steak & Whiskey event, have mucho margaritas at Tacos & Tequila or try as many wines and spirits as you can handle at the Grand Tasting. Pick your poison: no matter which event you attend at NYCWFF, there will be beer, wine and spirits to enjoy.
Packages
The Festival has so much to offer, it’s hard to choose which events to attend! That’s why we offer packages with special discounts to make your Festival weekend worthwhile. Whether you want to attend both days of the Grand Tasting, score a special discount on tickets, spread the fun out over our four days of signature events or soak up all you can on Sunday, we’ve got a ticket package to fit your budget and schedule.
Important Information
A few more things you should know to make your shopping and Festival experience as easy as possible:
- Most Festival events are 21+, but there are plenty of options that are family friendly for young foodies.
- To help expedite entry, please be familiar with our bag policy that you can review here.
- The health and safety of our attendees and participants is our number one priority. We are in close contact with local and state officials and continue to closely monitor and adhere to laws, regulations and executive orders and learn from best practices as they are implemented across the events industry to provide the best in class and safest experience possible. Please continue to check back here as we update our policies accordingly.
- Are you a Capital One cardholder? Cardholders will receive special cardholder pricing, early access to our signature pier events, access to exclusive events and so much more. Make sure you purchase with your Capital One card to get these amazing offers.
- We offer payment plans so you can split your payment into multiple installments. Select the payment plan option at check-out to take advantage of this option.
Have more questions? Please refer to our FAQ here.