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And here I am, finally finishing up my notes from last week’s splendid 2008 New York City Wine & Food Festival. The last few events I had the opportunity to attend included the late night SWEET extravaganza, with Ace of Cakes’ Duff Goldman as MC, and the Macy’s Star Party featuring their Culinary Council, with both events taking place mere steps from each other in NYC’s Chelsea district.

While SWEET featured 43 of the city’s best pastry chefs, including Le Bernardin’s Michael Laiskonis, Daniel’s Dominique Ansel, and ‘wichcraft’s Sisha Ortuzar, the fete was packed with nearly 1,800 guests filling the sold-out space. DJ’d by ‘celebrity DJ’ Samantha Ronson, SWEET left everyone in sweet overload!

The exclusive after event, Macy’s Star Party, featured hot dogs, french fries, and tater tots developed by Macy’s Culinary Council chefs. Attendees included Culinary Council members Cat Cora, Todd English, Tyler Florence, Nancy Silverton, and Govind Armstrong, as well as fan favorites Giada De Laurentiis, Bobby Flay, Food & Wine‘s Gail Simmons, Travel Channel’s Samantha Brown, and The FN Dish’s own Bruce Seidel (who’s really the life of the party in person). With free flowing drinks and non-stop munchies, DJ Cassidy helped keep the dance floor packed all evening long.

You can check out Bruce’s coverage of the SWEET event here (with yours truly making a brief appearance at the 00:45 mark).

For more coverage of SWEET and the Macy’s Star Party, head over to these links:
Gothamist

MetroMix

Eater

NY’s WPIX

Serious Eats

How can next year’s NYC Wine & Food Festival possibly top this year’s event? We’ll just have to see!

~Jennifer Heigl