Four Nights of Food, Wine & Extraordinary Company in New York

Why These Nights Matter

For four days in October, the Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival takes over the Seaport, Pier 17 and a constellation of Manhattan venues with more than fifty events: intimate chef dinners, rooftop tastings, cocktail parties, wine and spirits masterclasses, and the grand tastings that draw hundreds of the best chefs, winemakers and mixologists in the country. Many of the premium dinners run to several hundred dollars a seat and sell out early — which tells you who is in the room.

It is the best week of the year to be in New York with an appetite and an evening free.

Make Four Nights of It

Base yourself where the city is easiest to enjoy after dark: the Aman, the Carlyle, the Greenwich Hotel, or the Lowell if you want a quieter Upper East Side address. Book one festival dinner and let the rest of the week be spontaneous. Manhattan's classics are in fine form — Le Bernardin, Carbone, the Polo Bar, 4 Charles Prime Rib if you can get the table — and the cocktail hour belongs to Bemelmans, the Overstory or the terrace at the Peninsula.

The Seaport at night, with Pier 17's rooftop lit and the bridges behind it, is reason enough to come downtown.

Better With Extraordinary Company

A festival dinner is a long table of strangers who become friends by the third course, and a rooftop tasting is only as good as the conversation. The right companion turns a week of great meals into a week you'll talk about for years — someone who knows a wine list, holds a room, and makes the walk back to the hotel the best part of the night.

Divine Dating Co. arranges those introductions. New York is our largest home market, and the Angels here are as comfortable at a chef's counter as they are in a candlelit corner at two in the morning.

Who Is in New York

The Angels shown here reflect current availability in New York — locally based, currently touring, or available by advance arrangement — and each card leads to her profile. If you would like a recommendation for a particular dinner or night, the concierge is the place to start.