Here's Everything You Need To Know About The New York City Wine & Food Festival 2016

It's that time of year again: The Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival presented by Coca-Cola is starting up this week, complete with tastings, multi-course dinners, celebrity chef appearances, and cooking demonstrations. The festival returns for its ninth year from October 13-16, with most events taking place on Chelsea Piers in Manhattan.

In addition to the annual familiar Tacos & Tequila event with Aarón Sanchez, the ever-popular Blue Moon Burger Bash with Pat LaFrieda and Racheal Ray, and of course the Grand Tasting, featuring food and demos from more than 70 chefs and restaurants, there are a host of new events this year, like Barilla's Italian Table hosted by Giada De Laurentiis, a bagel-making class with Black Seed Bagels and the Oyster Bash with Emeril Lagasse.

The big news is that this year, for the first time, the festival will be expanding to Brooklyn with three events — Chicken Coupe with Whoopi Goldberg and Andrew Carmellini, The Best of Brooklyn presented by MUNCHIES and hosted by Action Bronson, and Game Day Eats, all making their NYCWFF debuts.

If you weren't able to snag a ticket (there are still some available here!), or you won't be able to make it to New York for the culinary bash of the year, don't worry — The Daily Meal has you covered. We'll be in the trenches, with forks and spoons in hand, doing live coverage and recaps of all the delicious action.

A schedule of highlights is below, with a full listing available on the NYCWFF website.  

THURSDAY

7:00 pm– Barilla's Italian Table presented by Alfa Romeo and hosted by Giada De Laurentiis featuring pizza, pasta, and meatballs from the best Italian joints in the city.

7:00 pm—Chicken Coupe hosted by Whoopi Goldberg and Andrew Carmellini, featuring a fête of Champagne along with chicken dishes from the city's most distinguished chefs.

10:00 pm—Tacos and Tequila hosted by Aarón Sanchez, pairing delectable tacos with a host of creative cocktails made by mixologists.

FRIDAY

7:00 pm- Blue Moon Burger Bash—hosted by the charming Rachael Ray, this rooftop party will pit chefs against one another for the chance to win the people's choice award for best burger! Featuring celebrity judges Neil Patrick Harris, David Burtka, and Josh Capon.
 

7:00 pm—Best of Brooklyn Presented by MUNCHIES is hosted by Action Bronson and will feature a night of the best local eats Brooklyn has to offer with a special DJ set from TV on the Radio's Jaleel Bunton.

10:00 pm—Haute Dogs & Champagne hosted by Robert Irvine will serve fancy sausages, brats, and franks paired with some fabulous sparkling wine.

11:00 pm—Rock & Roll Sushi with sushi master Masaharu Morimoto will serve endless plates of sushi, sashimi, ceviche, and crudo to the tune of rock & roll karaoke.

SATURDAY

12:00 pm—The Grand Tasting presented by ShopRite is a culinary wonderland and one of the biggest events this weekend. The 130,000-square-foot space will feature tastings from restaurants all over the city and demos from chefs like Aarón Sanchez, Emeril Lagasse, Rachael Ray, and Alex Guanraschelli.

7:00 pm—Street Eats is hosted by lifestyle personality Ayesha Curry and TV chef Michael Mina, and will feature a long lineup of street carts and food trucks with classic and trendy street fare like hot dogs, pierogis, tacos, dumplings, and doughnuts.

7:00 pm—Rooftop Chopped is an event where you can mingle with the stars of your favorite culinary competition show: Ted Allen, Scott Conant, Alex Guarnaschelli, Marc Murphy, Marcus Samuelsson, and Geoffrey Zakarian. Guests will be able to judge dishes prepared by competing chefs, just like on the show.

10:00 pm- Midnight in Paris, a dessert tasting with New York's favorite pastry chef, Dominique Ansel , featuring whimsical desserts themed to the City of Light.

SUNDAY

11:30 am—Variety Presents Broadway Tastes is a brunch event hosted by Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka, featuring dishes inspired by some of Broadway's most popular musicals and plays.

3:30 pm—The Backyard BBQ presented by Coca-Cola is new this year, and hosted by grilling legends Bobby Flay and Michael Symon, with a whole host of barbecue samples, flowing pints of beer, and decadent desserts.

6:00 pm—Lucky Chopsticks with Andrew Zimmern is an Asian Night Market focusing on noodle dishes, dim sum, potstickers, and sushi, along with live music.