Our Top Five Event Picks For the 12th Annual San Diego Bay Wine + Food Festival | Taking Over America's Finest City From November 15-22

November 2, 2015

 The San Diego Bay Wine + Food Festival is coming up fast! We've covered the week-long event for the past four incarnations, and although the schedule varies year after year, we have a good idea of what to expect. We've looked over the lineup of over 30 meals, demos, classes and festivals taking place from November 15 to 22 and have picked our top 5 events for the 12th revival of Southern California's largest epicurean extravaganza. Because we adore our readers so much, we are also raffling off 2 general admission tickets to the San Diego Wine & Food Festival's Grand Tasting plus roundtrip transportation up to $50 each way from UberEVENTS (a $370 value) on Saturday, November 21, so read on for our picks and be sure to enter!


The San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival spotlights the ever thriving and evolving culinary scene of America's Finest City. There are packages offered that will give participants an overall discount and help guide the experience, but a la carte may be the best option for attendees looking to truly customize their SDBWFF experience. We have scoured the many events being offered, and although it was not easy, below we run through our top 5 choices from the lengthy list of options:

5) Exclusive Black & White Truffle Experience with Chef Suzette - ($425, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 6-9pm, Solare Restaurant) - This meal is going to be RICH!!! At this lavish supper, two-star Michelin Chef Suzette Gresham-Tognetti and Giancarlo Paterlini of San Francisco’s Acquerello, as well as San Diego’s Award-Winning Chef Accursio Lota of Solare Ristorante, will pay homage to one of the most expensive ingredients in the world - freshly foraged Italian white and black truffle mushrooms. Only 24 guests will get a chance to experience this intimate, multi-course dinner, including wine pairings hand selected by Giancarlo Paterlini from the vaults of Antinori of Italy.

4) The San Diego Classics: Fish Tacos & Craft Beers Featuring the Fish Taco TKO Competition ($45, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 6-9pm, Quartyard San Diego) - San Diego is widely known for two additions to the epicurean world - amazing craft beers and delicious fish tacos, and at this event, both will be showcased. Hosted at its new venue at East Village's Quartyard, this event will feature a fish taco competition between some of the best in SD including The Blind Burro, PB Fish Shop, Don Chido, The Promiscuous Fork, City Taco, Ironside Fish & Oyster and more. Oh, and plenty of San Diego craft beer! We attended this event the last two years, and it's a steal at $45 a ticket (plus we are raffling off two passes). The tacos are all full size and delicious, beer pours are unlimited and the outdoor Quartyard makes for a beautiful venue.

3) Expedition: BAJA with Javier Plascencia and Flor Franco ($325, Thursday, Nov. 19, 8:30am-12:30am, Valle de Guadalupe) - Baja cuisine is taking the world by storm, and San Diego Chefs Javier Plascencia and Flor Franco will act as our city's liasons to this amazing culinary style. We cannot think of two more suitable people to lead an expedition to demonstrate the bountiful beauty of Baja than these two chefs. This event will immerse participants in a cross-boarder exploration with a guided tour of some of the most prestigious, award winning wineries and culinary experiences found in Baja. Do not miss this day discovering the wineries, chefs and restaurants that make gastronomy from Baja one of the most talked about food trends.


2) Bayless, Plascencia, and White Opening Feast ($100-250, Monday, Nov. 16, 6-8:30pm, Bracero Cocina de Raiz) - The dinner portion is already sold out. California's culinary prince, the chef who brought Mexican food to the mainstream, and San Diego's next Top Chef are all joining forces for an epic dinner to open the 12th annual San Diego Bay Wine + Food Festival. Thirty lucky diners will get the opportunity to enjoy four courses of modern Mexican cuisine when Chefs Javier Plascencia, Rick Bayless and Chad White host San Diego Bay Wine + Food Festival's Opening Night Feast at Plascenscia’s newest enterprise - Bracero Cocina in San Diego’s historic Little Italy. This is a meal not to miss!

1) San Diego Bay Wine + Food Fest Lexus Grand Tasting ($75-$200, Saturday, Nov. 21, 11am-3pm) - If you are going to go to only one event at this year's San Diego Bay Wine & Food Fest, make it the Grand Tasting. As seen above, we are raffling off 2 GA tickets to this event, plus roundtrip transportation from UberEVENTS (up to $50 per ride) - the new service from Uber that allows events to purchase rides for their guests! This is the biggest party of the festival, featuring more vendors than you can count, dishing out everything from jelly beans to jambalaya. Held on the Embarcadero Marina Park North behind Seaport Village, this lavish seaside affair features live entertainment, cookbook signings, celebrity chefs, cooking demos, 170 wine and spirit purveyors, 70 of San Diego's top chefs, over 30 gourmet food vendors, and a riveting "Chef of the Fest" competition, making for the premier tasting opportunity. Come very, very hungry.

For more information on the 12th Annual San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival and to purchase tickets, visit sandiegowineclassic.com, and be sure to follow on Facebook and Twitter.