The Second Annual Newport Beach Wine & Food Festival will be for the weekend of October 2-4! The Festival will bring together 30 of Orange County’s finest restaurants in two Grand Tasting Pavilions, with different restaurants on each day. When you purchase your ticket below, make sure you use the code, DANISDEALS to get $25 off of each ticket!
The Festival will begin on Friday, October 2 at 6:30 p.m. with the official launch party & charity event at Oak Grill & Aqua Lounge! On Saturday, October 3, and Sunday, October 4 from 1 p.m. – 5 p.m., the festival at the Newport Beach Civic Center will feature celebrity chef cooking demos, book signings, restaurant and wine tastings, sommelier panels, mixology courses, handcrafted cocktails, live jazz and more. Net proceeds benefit charity partner Project Hope Alliance.
Bravo’s “Top Chef Masters” Season 1 Finalists Rick Bayless, Hubert Keller and Rick Moonen will headline the event with live cooking demonstrations, while “Top Chef” Season 11 Finalists Shirley Chung and Louis Maldonado lead the first Newport Beach Wine and Food Festival Top Chef Home Cook Challenge.
During Sunday’s Daytime Festival event, Golden Truffle Executive Chef Alan Greeley takes the stage with Chef Moonen. The Festival will also be introducing the ultimate hands-on cooking competition, where guests will channel their inner chef skills on stage while being coached by “Top Chef” Alumni. Season 11 Finalist and TWENTY EIGHT Executive Chef Shirley Chung will be leading this Top Chef Home Cook Challenge. Four people will be chosen from the audience to compete on stage with celebrity coaches like Bravo’s “Last Chance Kitchen” Winner and “Top Chef” Finalist Louis Maldonado. One winner will be honored as the very first Newport Beach Wine & Food Festival Top Chef Champion.
Many of the Festival’s chefs have appeared on shows like Bravo’s “Top Chef,” Food Network’s “Food Truck Face Off” and “Today Show” while also receiving some of the food and wine industry’s highest accolades like AAA Five-Diamond, national food publication awards and more.
To see all chefs participating in the festivities, check out the link here –> Newport Beach Food and Wine Festival Chef Lineup.
I unfortunately was unable to attend last year to being out of town, and unfortunately I will also be covering an event in another state that weekend that was planned months ago, but I did attend the media preview for this awesome festival and would love to share about it with you! Many of my friends and colleagues have shared with me that this food and wine event is the main event not to miss here in Southern California! I had a fabulous time at the media preview and met some fabulous talent and sampled a variety of fabulous dishes!
The media preview event I attended was held on the grand terrace of a private Corona Del May home, courtesy of Nicole Donavon of SPG Surterre Properties. We had a gorgeous view of the Newport Beach Harbor while we had the opportunity to mingle with chefs that will be in attendance at the festival, sample exquisite cuisine, and sip on fine wines.
For this preview evening, we had tastings from festival restaurants; cuisine prepped live, celebrity chefs, wine tastings with Master Sommelier Fred Dame, and handcrafted cocktails! Please see details below about a variety of delicacies from 13 different restaurants I got to sample, as well as chefs I enjoyed socializing with.
The Winery, Executive Chef Yvon Goetz
Oak Grill & Aqua Lounge, Executive Chef Marc Johnson
Foie Gras Terrine with Pickled Kumquats, Strawberries, Toasted Brioche & Bourbon Maple Syrup
Mastro’s Ocean Club, Executive Chef Josef Morphs/ Mastro’s Steakhouse, Executive Chef Nick Foegal
Slapfish, Executive Chef Andrew Gruel
FIG & OLIVE, Chef de Cuisine David Gussin (Melrose Location)
Fig and goat tartlet, sunburst tomatoes, fort dolce, fresh figs with walnuts
Asparagus crostini, chive, ricotta on homemade focaccia bread
Zucchini carpaccio, lemon picholine dressing, pine nuts and Parmesan cheese
Pelican Grill, Chef Luke Turpin
Cold Smoked Hamachi Crudo with Ginger Chili Coulis, Hazelnuts, Radish, Alegria Farms Heirloom Tomato, Cilantro and Olive Oil
Tommy Bahama Island Grille, Executive Chef Jimmy Chang
Chili brown sugar crusted cod with apple risotto and yucca chips
Driftwood Kitchen, Executive Chef Rainer Schwarz
Honey dashi marinated hamachi collar, yellow corn and piquillo pepper blini, Santa Barbara uni
Strawberry Tres Leches, strawberry fluid gel, curd and meringue
Kentucky Sunrise cocktail by Dave Anderson
Tamarind of London, Executive Chef Imran Ali
Tandoori meatballs, kofta, curry with saffron rice
Cashew paneer cheese
True Food Kitchen, Executive Chef Talia Zimmer
Kale avocado dip n flax seeds chip
Super berry tart
Del Frisco’s Grille, Executive Chef Sarah Daniels
Shaved steak sandwich, horseradish, and cream on a French roll.
Five Crowns & Side Door, Executive Chef Steve Kling
Absinthe cured steel head salmon crostini, local goat cheese, heirloom tomatoes
Wine selections I tried were lovely and they were the 2012 Carpe Diem Pinot Noir and the 2010 Barbaresco Pio Cesare.
Cocktail selections I tried from the Aqua Lounge/Oak Grill were the Absolute Elyx Cocktail with grapefruit juice, fireball whiskey, Agave nectar and Luxardo Cherry. The other cocktail was called, “Sun of a Peach” and it had absolute Elyx, lemon juice, agave nectar, peach puree, egg whites, Angostura Orange Bitters, cinnamon, tajin and sugar. These cocktails were prepared by Aqua Lounge mixologists, Michael Kaczorowski and Justin Young.
To purchase tickets see link here –> TICKETS and use my code: DANISDEALS to get $25 off of each ticket! My code will be valid through 10/2!! To get more info about the Newport Beach Wine & Food Festival, please visit their website above or call (888) 511-FEST.
To subscribe to my blog to get weekly deals like these and other dynamic ways to save and to live champagne dreams on a beer budget, simply scroll down & enter your email address where it says to follow blog via email. You will then receive an email asking you to confirm subscription. Simply confirm subscription and you will be subscribed. 🙂 Thank you for your time and feel free to spread the word to others that want to learn all different kinds of ways to save money on food, travel, shopping, and products:) Please feel free to like my facebook page, Dani’s Decadent Deals as well to get daily deals everyday for everything from clothing, travel, restaurants, activities, adult events and kids’ events. 🙂 Have fun saving!!!
Dani's Decadent Deals 