NYC Wine & Food Festival could boost struggling South Street Seaport

After a one-year stint in Brooklyn, The New York City Wine & Food Festival will be back in Manhattan this week — potentially giving a much-needed boost to the South Street Seaport.

Now in its 18th year, NYCWFF runs this Wednesday through Sunday and has an all-star lineup led by Jean-Georges Vongerichten. As the festival’s first “culinary curator,” he will oversee more than 50 events – from grand tastings to an intimate $2,000 per ticket dinner for 12 people hosted by top chef and humanitarian José Andrés.

In 2016, Vongerichten partnered with the Howard Hughes Corporation to transform the Seaport’s historic Tin Building into a dining destination. The food mecca has struggled since its 2022 opening, but the festival could energize the neighborhood, according to Lee Brian Schrager, the festival’s founder.

“I hope it will be as good for them as it will be for us,” he said. “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 yet to see a long hoped-for boom.

Hedge funder Bill Ackman’s Seaport Entertainment Group (SEG) recently sold 250 Water St., located around the corner from the Tin Building, for $150.5 million. The sale marked a roughly $110 million loss on the property SEG bought in 2018. The group abandoned plans for a 27-story, multiuse tower in the face of strong community resistance.

Compared to Brooklyn, the South Street Seaport is a more central location for restaurateurs, who told Side Dish there were simply too many logistical challenges to transporting their dishes to the borough for the festival last October. Getting Manhattanites to cross the bridge for multiple events was also an obstacle, restaurateurs said.

“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,” said Schrager, who is also the chief communications officer for Southern Glazer’s Wine And Spirits, the exclusive provider of wine and spirits for the festival.

Big Apple options for large gatherings are limited, Schrager noted. 

“Half of the piers are crumbling and falling into the water, so you are really limited,” Schrager said. “Last year’s festival was too spread out. It was in Brooklyn and downtown Manhattan and our consumers and talent were torn all over the place. 

“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 begin with “A Taste of the Tin Building,” hosted by Vongerichten and Gregory Gourdet and featuring music by DJ Cassidy. Rachael Ray is back to host Blue Moon Burger Bash with co-host Brooklyn Beckham, presented by Pat LaFrieda Meats. 

Ray is hosting a $2,000 per ticket dinner of her own. Although it has sold out, “two seats have opened up as the winemaker decided to attend the event but not as a seated guest,” Schrager said.

There’s also a Grand Tasting featuring Gotham’s best bites and restaurants plus Southern Glazer’s wines and spirits. Sofia Vergara and her son Manolo will host the feast. A second evening session will be hosted by Food Network star chefs Bobby Flay and Brooke Williamson – with the option for diners to add on a “VIP steak-focused” event at Carmellini’s Carne Mare – Schrager said. He added that this year the festival will benefit The Event Zero Foundation, which promotes sustainability, and the James Beard Foundation.

Highlights will also include an Asian Night Market hosted by Padma Lakshmi and Vongerichten.

Additional dining experiences will 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 participating star chefs and maestros include 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 book, “I’m Not Trying to be Difficult: Stories from the Restaurant Trenches.”

Some creative touches include a gathering for social culinary creators and another for cookbook authors and “culinary storytellers” including actress Brie Larson, who is out with a new cookbook called “Party People.” 

The festival has sold around $2 million worth of tickets so far, Schrager said, which is “right on track,” as the most tickets are sold the week of the festival.  

We hear … Beard Award-winning chef JJ Johnson has launched his own spinoff barbeque festival, The Cookout. He is hosting the event, which will benefit the nonprofit Rethink Food, with Angela Yee. 

The festival, costing up to $200 per ticket for a maximum of 350 people, is this coming Saturday at the historic St. Bart’s on 51st Street and Park Avenue. The goal is to bring together food, music and community in a “purpose-driven celebration” of Afro-Caribbean and African-American culture, Johnson said.

“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 told Side Dish. “With this event, I am honoring that tradition while also bringing together new generations of diverse chefs and food enthusiasts.”

Ten percent of all ticket sales will be donated to feeding New Yorkers, he added.

Featured chefs and culinary partners include Johnson, of Fieldtrip; Chef Preston Clark, of Lure; Osei “Picky” Blackett, of Ariapita; Ben “Moody” Harney, of The Real other Shucker; India Doris, of Markette; and Sugar Hill Creamery. 

We hear … The Bahamas Culinary & Arts Festival runs Oct. 22 to 26, with Lenny Kravitz performing on Oct. 24.

The festival will be held at Baha Mar, a luxury resort complex in Nassau. It features top chefs Daniel Boulud, Marcus Samuelsson, Dario Cecchini and Scott Conant, along with Simeon Hall Jr., Amanda Freitag, Carla Hall, Maneet Chauhan and Geoffrey Zakarian. 

Food has become a major draw for developments, culinary experts say. 

Boulud, who operates Café Boulud The Bahamas at Rosewood Baha Mar, is set to host a truffle dinner. A live music event with “island-inspired cuisine” by Samuelsson and Conant will also be held. Conant will host a Tuscan lunch and other events. 

Kravitz’s ties to the Bahamas run deep. It’s where his late mother, the actor Roxie Roker, came from. (His late father Sy Kravitz was an NBC producer.) The festival will also host the third annual Fuze Art Expo, with more than 85 artists and galleries from 17 countries. 

We hear … that Harvest-A Benefit for Union Square Park will take place Nov. 13, bringing Union Square’s top chefs and eateries together to benefit the park. That includes new restaurants, like Vinile Italian Chophouse and veteran restaurateur John McDonald’s soon-to-open seafood eatery Seahorse, as well as the beloved classics the the area is known for – from Gramercy Tavern and Union Square Cafe to Craft, Tarallucci e Vino and Knickerbocker Bar & Grill.

Additional spots include 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 will also be part of the experience, featuring top vendors including 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.