The Atlanta Food and Wine Festival will return for its 13th year Sept. 12-15 with the theme “Big Top Bazaar.” If there’s one piece of advice Amanda Vidaurre can give attendees, it’s “come hungry; come with a plan.”
Vidaurre is the senior director of operations for a21, an event and marketing agency that took over the festival in 2020. The a21 portfolio includes culinary events and festivals in places including New York City, Los Angeles and Miami’s South Beach. Vidaurre, who works on festivals around the country, said events like the Atlanta Food and Wine Festival put “your city on display for everyone to see.”
Attendees can learn a lot about a city and its culture through the cuisine and the entertainment that takes place over the course of a weekend, she said.
Like previous years, the tasting tents will be the main event. On Friday, Sept. 13, and Saturday, Sept. 14, the tents run in the evening for general admission from 7:30-10 p.m., and on Sunday it’s an afternoon grilling extravaganza from 2-5 p.m. Tasting tent tickets are all-inclusive, with unlimited food, wine and entertainment.
Courtesy of Rafterman Photography
Courtesy of Rafterman Photography
Each day has a different theme from which vendors are encouraged to take inspiration, Vidaurre said. Friday’s theme is “flavor funhouse,” which plays into the “big top bazaar” carnival motif. Saturday is “Georgia grown” and pays homage to the restaurants and culinary traditions that make Atlanta special, and Sunday is the “thrill of the grill,” which makes the only daytime session feel like a giant barbecue.
“We’re giving (the restaurants) a chance to put their best dish forward — what it is they’re known for, what it is they want to showcase,” Vidaurre said.
Since a21 took over the festival four years ago, it has worked to make the event feel “upscale but very approachable,” she said. The fest features a robust chef list that touches on different cuisines and allows attendees to flow through the tents.
In addition to the tasting tents, there are cooking demonstrations throughout the evening where attendees can watch chefs whip up a dish right in front of them. This year’s lineup includes Ford Fry from Rocket Farm Restaurants, Brian Morris from Hattie B’s, Keely Moore from Lazy Betty and Robert Butts and Nzali Scales from Black Smoke Kitchen & Bar and Zaza’s Kitchen.
For those who want to experience more than the tents, there will be several intimate dinners and brunch throughout the weekend. The festival initiated this in 2020 as a way to account for COVID-19, but the intimate setting is sticking around as a way to give attendees more interactions with chefs and the opportunity to try dishes and meals that would never otherwise be served in a restaurant.
“It’s nice to see (the chefs’) creativity shine in those intimate dinners,” Vidaurre said.
The festival kicks off with two dinners Thursday night. The meal at The Americano features celebrity chef Scott Conant and the other dinner at Chai Pani features chef Sahar Siddiqi from Chai Pani, chef Mia Orino from Kamayan and journalist Henna Bakshi from Eater Atlanta. The intimate dinner will be a collaboration between all three, with Siddiqi and Orino developing the four-course family-style menu and Bakshi curating the wine pairings.
Orino spearheaded the dessert course with suman, a steamed sticky rice cake with mango and coconut caramel, Siddiqi said, and the pair collaborated on the other courses to see how they could fuse Filipino and South Indian cuisines.
“I think the wine pairings that Henna is putting together are so phenomenal and so thoughtful, that’s really going to take it to another level,” Siddiqi said.
Courtesy of Rafterman Photography
Courtesy of Rafterman Photography
In addition to brick-and-mortar restaurants, the festival showcases small businesses such as C3D Creamery, a handmade ice cream pop-up. This will be owner Alexandria Courtney’s second year participating in the festival. Her time in the tasting tents gives her great exposure to a new customer base, as attendees have a chance to sample her ice cream several times over.
To fit into the theme this year, Courtney will be bringing her festive Party Cake flavor, which is bright pink with sprinkles. She’ll also offer cookies and cream, chocolate, vanilla, strawberry and butter pecan ice cream.
To Siddiqi, the Atlanta food scene is a blend of cultures and ethnicities coming together and “making gorgeous food,” and the Atlanta Food and Wine Festival weekend is just one event that showcases this collaboration between chefs.
IF YOU GO
Atlanta Food and Wine Festival
Intimate dinners — 6-9 p.m. Thursday and Sept. 13. Brunch — Noon-2 p.m. Sept. 14. Tasting tents — 7:30-10 p.m. Sept. 13-14. 2-5 p.m. Sept. 15. $135 per day. Historic Fourth Ward Park, 665 N. Ave. NE, Atlanta. atlfoodandwinefestival.com
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