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This October, the glutton bomb known as the New York City Wine & Food Festival drops into the Meatpacking District for its sophomore outing, showcasing an even bigger lineup of parties, feasts, talks and chef demos. Like last year, marquee events like Burger Bash, Grand Tasting and SWEET will be back, along with culinary stars like Giada De Laurentiis, Guy Fieri and, well, practically every A-list chef in town. (Check out our 2008 coverage.)
But this year's fest, benefiting charities like Food Bank for NYC, will also feature new events like Meatball Madness, the southern-themed Down South Up North, as well as a diverse, non-food-y roster of folks from designer Zac Posen to…Alicia Silverstone? Oh, and there'll be line dancing. Line dancing! Fest founder and director Lee Schrager answers some burning questions.
So, how did Alicia Silverstone get on your radar?
[Laughs] I was having lunch with a good friend of mine, [book publisher] Pam Krauss, and she said she had Alicia Silverstone's book coming out on the exact days of the festival. It's a vegan cookbook, and it's very funny because if you go to a lot of vegan Web sites, you'll see "Alicia Silverstone." She's obviously big in the vegan world. The fact that someone is a vegan doesn't mean they can't go to a wine tasting. So I think it's all about diversity. Listen we have Zac Posen cooking a dinner…
Yeah, I saw that—he's hosting something called "Food Meets Fashion." Isn't that an oxymoron?
[Laughs] It is kinda strange. Actually, I was waiting for him to say that to me. Anyone who's into the arts appreciates what we do. They may not eat as much, or as often, but they appreciate [food].
Is it true you met with Zac's mother as well?
Yes, the meeting was with Zac and his mom, Susan. Susan is a big supporter of [the fight against] hunger, I think that had a lot to do with it. And Zac had also been to dinners before at the Beard House. It was not a hard push.
How'd you approach this year's fest given today's cost-conscious mood?
We were very, very cognizant of the economy, and we wanted to keep things at a certain price point. We really didn't want to do dinners above a certain amount. We thought, what's the lowest that we can produce this event and still make money for the charities?
What can we expect to see at Down South Up North, which is being hosted by Paula Deen at Hill Country?
A lot of fried food, a lot of fried chicken [laughs]. It's gonna be family style, and there's gonna be line dancing. Everyone participating in that event has to do fried chicken. So there will be four, five types of fried chicken on the menu.
Among the participants, whose fried chicken are you totally sold on?
Art Smith probably makes the greatest fried chicken I've had to date. And I'd be shocked if the Lee brothers aren't right behind him.
You've got a great lineup for SWEET this year.
We have an amazing lineup. As a matter of fact, we haven't even added [to the Web site] the two newest ones, Claudia Fleming from The North Fork Table—one of my favorite pastry chefs of all time. Plus we also have Johnny [Iuzzini] from Jean Georges.
How'd you come up with the Meatball Madness idea?
We wanted to do something that was very New York. And honestly, we wanted to do pizza. But producing pizza for [a large] number…and the chefs all cook pizza in different ways—logistically, we could not make pizza happen. And I really wanted to do something Italian, and meatballs were the most natural.
There's lots of excitement surrounding Frank Bruni's upcoming talk. Did you know that he was leaving the Times?
No, I really had no idea. I've been wanting to do something with Frank in South Beach and in New York last year, but it just was not possible. I've been speaking with Frank for several months before, but with no commitment. I really didn't know that he was [leaving the Times.] The timing just worked out perfectly.
Katie Lee Joel was a surprise winner at last year's Burger Bash. Any dark-horse predictions for this year?
[Takes a deep breath] You know, I have to tell you: Spike Mendelsohn is doing Burger Bash—he also did South Beach's Burger Bash. Interesting thing about Spike: I didn't know him. A friend of mine who works with Spike said, "You should use Spike." I said, "Oh, I don't know, I've never heard of him." I didn't even know he had been on whatever show he'd been on, the Food Network I guess...
"Top Chef"…
Is that where he was, "Top Chef"? Honestly, I didn't even know it. And he won not only people's choice in South Beach, but judges' choice! I think there's gonna be a lot of eyes on what Spike's doing this year. I couldn't have been more shocked. I'm sure it was a great burger. It was just that I knew nothing about him and here he is, he comes out ahead.
Any details for the closing-night party?
Closing night will be a private-invitation chefs-only party on the rooftop of the Standard. I think it's gonna be the chef from the Standard, Dan Silverman.
Tickets go on sale on Monday. Will you eventually make more tickets available for sold-out events?
No, I don't believe so. Unlike South Beach, we're not holding any tickets back. Either you get it or you don't.
The NYC Wine & Food Festival happens from Oct. 8–11. Tickets go on sale on June 15.
What other people are saying...
saraht - June 11, 2009 at 1:40 PM
They have a ton of big name chefs participating. I have never been but will definitely scoop up some tickets now.
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