Food Network's Wine & Food Festival to Fly in DUMBO?
Monday, April 23, 2007 | posted by Mike
Yeah, I know that headline is a stretch, but remodeling the TVFF Headquarters monopolized much of my time this weekend, so cut me some slack.
I've been meaning to write about this for almost a week now. You know you're getting Grade A Prime scuttlebutt when you're reading the New York Post's Page Six, and that's where today's info can be found. In their April 15th "We Hear...We Hear...We Hear" column, there is this little nugget:
THAT Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and South Beach Wine & Food Festival founder Lee Schrager are planning to bring a New York version of the weekend-long culinary klatsch to DUMBO next year. TV's Food Network and Food & Wine magazine are to sponsor the event and Mario Batali has committed to participate.
Hmmmm...very interesting.
I probably should take a minute and explain to our non-NYC area visitors exactly what "DUMBO" means. DUMBO is a part of Brooklyn which gets its name from it's location "Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass." According to the Wikipedia entry, it had been a bit of a bohemian enclave. Now, it's a neighborhood that you can't afford. Such is life in NYC, folks.
I've always thought it was a bit odd to have FN's big shindig down in Miami. Now, I understand the appeal of Florida in the winter and the fact that they do have a pretty interesting culinary scene. But let's get real. The place that really matters when it comes to food in this country is New York City. I'm pretty sure that SoBe was operating for a couple of years before FN's involvement, so the partnership might have come about because much of the infrastructure was already in place.
But this could be a move that is beneficial to both sides. The folks behind the Miami event get a chance to expand their presence into another city and the Food Network will have an event in their home town -- the biggest culinary stage in the country.
The big question is whether or not this actually replaces SoBe, or whether it becomes some sort of twice-yearly event, with a cold-weather event in Florida and a warm-weather even in NYC.
Wait a second...who are we kidding? The BIG question is whether or not we can score some press passes to the event, since it will be happening a short train ride (actually, a train ride and a subway ride) from TVFF HQ. I'll keep checking the mail. And holding my breath.
Labels: Food Network
