2014-07-02 Eater

25 Food & Drink Events for July and Beyond

Wednesday, July 2, 2014, by Amy McKeever

Barbecue, booze, and beaches lie in wait for culinary event enthusiasts this July and August. After the Fourth of July weekend, Chicago will celebrate barbecue from both near and far — including Myron Mixon, The Salt Lick, and Dinosaur BBQ — at the Windy City Smokeout. That same weekend, Ivan Orkin, Ludo Lefebvre, and Enrique Olvera will host picnics outside of New York City at Rockaway Beach for Le Fooding. Then, the party heads to New Orleans with the annual educational drunkfest that is Tales of the Cocktail. If that's not enough, the months ahead also bring promise of chicken fried bacon (Iowa State Fair), wisdom from René Redzepi, Alex Atala, and friends (MAD 4), and a world tour from one of the world's top-rated restaurants (Roca&Roll World Tour). Here's the list:

The Photography of Modernist Cuisine

When: Now - September 1, 2014
Where: San Jose, CA
What: The Photography of Modernist Cuisine is the newest exhibition at San Jose's Tech Museum, featuring a collection of photographs by Nathan Myhrvold and the Modernist Cuisine team that can also be found in their latest book, The Photography of Modernist Cuisine.

Food on Film

When: July 9, 2014
Where: Toronto, Canada
What: The Toronto International Film Festival is bringing back its monthly "Food on Film" series in which chefs and food experts come in to talk about their favorite food movies. For the last film in the series, Booker and Dax's Dave Arnold will weigh in on Soylent Green on July 9.

Le Grand Fooding

When: July 11 — July 13, 2014
Where: Rockaway Beach, NY
What: Le Fooding returns to New York City this Summer with what Eater NY reports are a series of three big picnic parties. Each night will bring a different chef — Ivan Orkin, Ludo Lefebvre, and Enrique Olvera comprise the star-studded lineup — while Christina Tosi will be serving desserts and Rockaway Taco will make sopes at each party. A part of the proceeds will go toward rehabilitating the Rockaways post-Hurricane Sandy.

Windy City Smokeout

When: July 11 — July 13, 2014
Where: Chicago, IL
What: Chicago is bringing in some of barbecue's finest for this year's Windy City Smokeout, featuring Myron Mixon, The Salt Lick, Dinosaur BBQ, Pappy's Smokehouse, Lilly's Q, event host Bub City, and more. Each day will also feature musical entertainment such as Brett Eldredge, the Randy Rogers Band, and Eli Young Band.

SC-TX BBQ Invitational

When: July 13, 2014
Where: Charleston, SC
What: John Lewis of Austin's La Barbecue is headed to Charleston this month to take on South Carolina barbecue in the SC-TX BBQ Invitational. He'll be up against Rodney Scott of Scott's BBQ, while 6 & 20 Distillery will bring the bourbon and Holy City Brewing will provide the beer.

Tales of the Cocktail

When: July 16 — July 20, 2014
Where: New Orleans, LA
What: Bartenders and other spirits professionals head to New Orleans next month for five booze-filled days at Tales of the Cocktail. As usual, there will be all kinds of tastings and seminars, as well drinking-focused dinners and parties. July 19 brings the annual Spirited Awards, which honors the country's finest beverage professionals.

The Big Eat

When: July 17, 2014
Where: Denver, CO
What: More than 30 local restaurants and bars are teaming up for The Big Eat, a celebration of Denver's independent restaurants. Enjoy tastings, cocktail demos and more from restaurants such as Comida, Biker Jim's, Steuben's, and more.

Punta Mita Beach Festival

When: July 17 — July 20, 2014
Where: Punta Mita, Mexico
What: This Summer brings with it the second annual Punta Mita Beach Festival, hosted by the St. Regis Punta Mita. Over the course of four days, chefs Tierry Blouet (Cafe des Artistes), and St. Regis chefs Sylvain Desbois and Tomas Bermudez will serve meals while guests take advantage of all the surfing, scuba diving, and yoga there is to be found at this beach resort.

Good Food Awards Roadshow

When: July 18, 2014
Where: Portland, OR
What: The Good Food Awards program is traveling across the country this Summer to "highlight the tasty, authentic and responsible food" in cities such as DC, Portland, and St. Louis. In July, they're stopping for a night market and Beer & Brats party in Portland, Oregon, featuring vendors such as Olympic Provisions, Alma Chocolate, Full Sail Brewing, and more.

First Harvest Dinner

When: July 23 — July 24, 2014
Where: Lummi Island, WA
What: Chef Blaine Wetzel and The Willows Inn at Lummi Island are gearing up for another of their annual First Harvest dinners. As usual, Wetzel is inviting in some pretty enormous names, starting with the world-renowned Albert Adria. Saison's Josh Skenes will also be in on the dinner.

Taste of Toronto

When: July 24 — July 27, 2014
Where: Toronto, Canada
What: Toronto celebrates its dining scene in late July with the first-ever Taste of Toronto. Chef David Chang and his team of Momofuku chefs will be there, while there will be tastings from the likes of Khao San Road, Richmond Station, Big Crow, Splendido, and more.

Atlantic City Food and Wine Festival

When: July 25 — July 27, 2014
Where: Atlantic City, NJ
What: Caesars Entertainment is hosting the sixth annual Atlantic City Food and Wine Festival featuring a slew of chefs and TV personalities. Marcus Samuelsson will be hosting a New England clambake, while none other than Martha Stewart herself is throwing a burger beach bash where she will share some of her burger secrets. Robert Irvine will also be on hand for an afternoon of barbecue and blues.

Chefs & Champagne

When: July 26, 2014
Where: The Hamptons
What: The James Beard Foundation's annual Summer party Chefs & Champagne returns to the Hamptons with an abundance of champagne, wine, and tastings from chefs such as Alex Guarnaschelli , Jamie Bissonnette and Ken Oringer, Chris Jaeckle, Shane McBride, Seamus Mullen, and more. This year's guest of honor is chef Bobby Flay.

Eat Drink SF

When: July 27 - August 3, 2014
Where: San Francisco, CA
What: The wine and food festival formerly known as SF Chefs is back with a ton of events in the works this year. Though the main events — tastings, demos, and classes of all stripes — is taking place August 1-3, there's a pre-party that will celebrate San Francisco Chronicle's new Top 100 class, plus a Top 100 bar crawl.

Looking Ahead:

Iowa State Fair

When: August 7 — August 17, 2014
Where: Des Moines, IA
What: The Iowa State Fair is renowned for its contributions to totally insane food combinations and concoctions, and this year looks as promising as ever. New food things at this year's fair include funnel cake sticks, chicken fried bacon, pineapple inside out funnel cake, and tater dogs on a stick.

Outside Lands

When: August 8 — August 10, 2014
Where: San Francisco, CA
What: There are killer lineups on both the food and music side of the upcoming Outside Lands festival in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Restaurants participating include AQ, Homeroom, and TBD, while the musical acts include Kanye West, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Killers, The Flaming Lips, Haim, and a whole lot more.

Bon Appétit Grub Crawl

When: August 16, 2014
Where: Park City, UT
What: Bon Appétit's Grub Crawl hits Park City this month offering two separate culinary "trails" for diners to explore, including Zoom, High West, and Wahso on Trail A and The Sky Lodge, Shabu, and Chimayo on Trail B. Later this year, the Grub Crawl will stop in Nashville and San Francisco.

Play With Fire Benefit Dinner for FarmOn

When: August 17, 2014
Where: Hudson Valley, NY
What: A crew of US and Canadian chefs that includes April Bloomfield, Sean Brock, Jamie Bissonnette, Francisco Migoya, Derek Dammann, Matt Jennings and more are gathering in August for a feast feature five open pit fires and whole spit roasted meats to benefit FarmOn.

Los Angeles Food & Wine

When: August 21 — August 24, 2014
Where: Los Angeles, CA
What: LA Food & Wine is back this year featuring a lineup that includes Masaharu Morimoto, Graham Elliot, Daniel Boulud, and many other yet-to-be-announced chefs. According to Eater LA, this year's event includes a Chef Challenge that "pits influential chefs in a culinary battle (for charity)."

Cultivate Festival

When: August 23 - October 18, 2014
Where: Various locations.
What: Chipotle's fourth-annual Cultivate Festival continues on August 23 in Minneapolis. The musical lineup includes Portgual. The Man, and Grouplove, while Chipotle and its sister concept ShopHouse will be providing sustenance alongside some local artisans, brewers, and wine-makers. There will also be chef demos from Andrew Zimmern, Amanda Freitag, Erik Anderson, Jamie Malone, Paul Berglund, and Jack Reibel. Cultivate will head to Dallas next in October.

MAD 4

When: August 24 — August 25, 2014
Where: Copenhagen, Denmark
What: René Redzepi's annual MAD Symposium returns this August with D.O.M. chef Alex Atala on board as co-curator. Chefs, cooks, farmers, and other industry professionals will take over Copenhagen to discuss what cooking is today, how it will evolve, and their own responsibilities within that.

Hawaii Food & Wine Festival

When: August 29 — September 7, 2014
Where: Hawaii
What: The Hawaii Food & Wine Festival returns for its fourth year of celebrating delicious food in a beautiful island paradise. This year's chef lineup includes Masaharu Morimoto, Nancy Silverton, Dean Fearing, Jonathan Waxman, Christina Tosi, Andy Ricker, Ming Tsai, and more.

Roca&Roll World Tour

When: August 2014
Where: Various.
What: Last December, the brothers of Spain's three-Michelin-starred El Celler de Can Roca announced that they would embark on a Roca&Roll World Tour beginning in August 2014. There hasn't been much in the way of details since — aside from promises to stop in Houston, Dallas, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru — but pastry chef Jordi Roca was in New York this week in advance of the tour. So stay tuned.

Feast Portland

When: September 18 — September 21, 2014
Where: Portland, OR
What: Feast Portland returns in 2014 with as impressive a lineup as ever, including Paul Kahan, Hugh Acheson, and Dominique Crenn. Popular events such as the Sandwich Invitational and the Asian Night Market will also be back again this year.

New York City Wine & Food Festival

When: October 16 — October 19, 2014
Where: New York, NY
What: It's not until October, but tickets are already on sale for the New York City Wine & Food Festival. A whole slew of famous chefs will be there, while events will include a 40th anniversary dinner at Le Cirque, the annual Burger Bash, a Hot Dog Happy Hour and a Wonderland-themed evening of desserts with Dominique Ansel.

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