Pebble Beach Food & Wine Festival: an afternoon of culinary exploration

Over the years, Pebble Beach Food & Wine has come to be known for attracting the creme de la creme of the culinary world and rightly so; we’re talking about Michelin Star, James Beard Award, Top Chefs, and Best New Chef award winners. Every year, the Who’s Who of both the culinary and wine-making world congregate at this festival to showcase their talent and wines. This year, I was lucky enough to attend the 11th Annual festival at the Pebble Beach Equestrian Center and I couldn’t have been more excited.

The festivities began Thursday, April 5th with a golf tournament as well as VIP dinners, cooking demos, and seminars throughout the weekend; the festival culminated in the Grand Tasting on Sunday, April 8th, which featured 38 chefs (and their teams) and almost 200 wineries.

A girlfriend and I made plans to attend the festival together and decided we’d stop for coffee on the way down to Pebble Beach (it’s a good idea to wake up before drinking haha). I had seen photos of Cat & Cloud Coffee on Instagram and had been dying to visit Santa Cruz for their coffee — this was my chance. I went with a latte and shared my kouign amann (OK, does anyone else struggle with spelling this pastry’s name? I always forget that double ‘n’!). I have to say, their interior design is on point with the wood tables, turquoise blue color scheme, and order pick-up window that is open to the exterior of the building.

From Cat & Cloud, the drive to Pebble Beach was another hour (I thought it was closer than it actually was). A guard inside a booth waived us through the gate; the short drive we took down 17 Mile Drive was nice and relaxing. I rolled down my window to talk to someone staffed a few yards from the parking area; he waived me through to continue down the road. We ended up passing the parking area, but after a u-turn, I was able to park, and we were on our way into the festival.

I stopped at Will-Call to pick up my press and guest pass. We were like two teenagers attending their first concert together — giddy and excited — as we approached the festival entrance. We were handed a wine glass and a lanyard that held the glass for you. This was quite brilliant because juggling a camera, food, and wine would have been a disaster; I probably would have spilled something.

We started out slowly with a glass of rosé and a bite to eat from Stella Artois. We decided to try to walk the entire space first so I could get my shots of food, wine, and the chefs in action, then return and do a second loop to slowly enjoy the bites and drinks with my camera stowed away. Don’t do that. We did stop and eat and drink a little along our route, but we didn’t realize the space was so big with so many booths and activities (photo ops); we thought we finished when we walked the main tent, but then there was a connection into a second tent! By the time we made it through and were ready to do our planned second loop, it was an hour before the event was going to end and some of the booths were vacated. Now I know! I’ll need to get better at balancing the photo-taking with the eating and drinking. Note to self: find a dress that has a pocket (for my phone)!

As sponsors of the festival, both Master Card and Lexus each had their own section at the festival. Master Card served rosé and cotton candy with your choice of toppings in addition to a photo booth. The Lexus area transported us to the French Riviera with the food stalls arranged like little shops. Lexus also sponsored free valet for festival attendees that arrived in a Lexus…lucky! I bought a new car before the new year, but unfortunately it is not a Lexus — I couldn’t afford the one I’ve had my eye on!

We had an absolute blast at the event and we ate and drank our hearts’ content. I wish I had more space in my stomach and time to try every dish (we missed a couple)! I think we did a pretty good job regardless — I was SO stoked (read: star-struck) to have met/seen Elizabeth Falkner (she saw me stealthily take a photo of her with a group and waived me over to take a photo with her *swoon*), Melissa King, and Tyler Malek.

Since we were already in Pebble Beach, we had to drive down 17 Mile Drive to visit the Lone Cypress; I had never seen it before and it was less than two miles away. As I rounded a bend, I spotted a young deer on my side of the car on someone’s lawn. I rolled down my window for my friend to take some photos; it was adorable! I didn’t want to scare him/her or have it run towards the car, so I drove off. Parking at the Lone Cypress was easy enough as someone was leaving when we pulled up. We spent a few minutes snapping photos and walked down the flight of wooden stairs to get to the viewing deck. The breeze felt great and the weather was perfect! And then someone (me) had to use the restroom, so we headed to the Inn at Spanish Bay, a beautiful resort with a patio that has a lovely view of the bay.