At the Visit Lauderdale Food & Wine Festival in 2024, chefs Alex Kuk and Diego Ng didn’t expect much foot traffic for Wok ‘n Roll, their inaugural Asian street food and music bash. Especially when it started pouring.
Then rain-soaked patrons in ponchos came streaming into the venue, lured by steamed dumplings, chili sauce and rock music. So did local chefs, including Rino Cerbone, owner of Flagler Village Italian sit-down Heritage. By night’s end, one rapturous diner shook Kuk’s hand, saying, “Oh my God, this felt like Woodstock all over again.”
“We were missing the peace pipe, but sure, yeah, Asian Woodstock was a hit,” Kuk, Wok ‘n Roll’s co-organizer and the chef-owner of Wan’s in Fort Lauderdale, recalls with a laugh. “Our little mom-and-pop event filled a need, I guess.”
“Asian Woodstock” isn’t so little anymore. When the seventh annual Visit Lauderdale Food & Wine Festival returns Jan. 19-25, Wok ‘n Roll will double its capacity to 750, gain even more vendors, and upgrade to a breezy, dramatic new venue: the waterfront Las Olas Intracoastal Promenade Park. Already, Wok ‘n Roll is 95% sold out, organizers confirm.
Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel
S3 omakase chef Ped Phommavong filets a tuna during The Grand Tasting in 2025. The 2026 edition will return on Jan. 24. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
The entire Broward County smorgasbord is no slouch either: With more than a week to go, the festival is on the verge of selling out completely, a sign of its ever-growing popularity, if you ask Stacy Ritter, president and CEO of Visit Lauderdale, the county’s tourism arm.
The bash is now the biggest it’s ever been, she says, helped in no small part by millions of tourist development dollars spent in recent years to lure new faces and well-known tastemakers like the Michelin Guide to our shores.
“We’ve grown exponentially over the past handful of years, faster than any of us expected it,” Ritter tells the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “The fact we now have five restaurants awarded by Michelin is a huge selling factor. We’re our own destination, but we don’t want it to grow too fast.”
Here are a few ways that the Visit Lauderdale Food & Wine Festival has grown up:
Its Grand Tasting now features 70 participating restaurants, which festival co-organizer Kate Reed calls “the largest grouping of Grand Tasting restaurants of any food and wine festival in the nation.”
For the first time in fest history, every dinner and special gathering will include a Michelin or James Beard-honored chef or restaurant, as well as multiple Michelin-blessed eateries from Fort Lauderdale.
All but five of its signature events and intimate dinners have sold out, a festival record.
This year’s headlining celebrity chefs include Richard Blais (Bravo’s “Top Chef: All Stars”, Fox’s “Next Level Chef”) Eddie Jackson (“Food Network Star”) and “Captain” Ron Dimpflmaier, alongside Nancy Fuller (Food Network’s “Farmhouse Rules”) and James Beard semifinalist and author Clarice Lam.
Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel
People gather at The Grand Tasting during last year’s Visit Lauderdale Food and Wine Festival at Las Olas Oceanside Park. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
And, yes, there are many decorated locals in the mix, including chefs Ryan Ratino (Michelin one-star MAASS), Fergus Conneely (26 Degree Brewing Co.), Christie Tenaud and Roberto Colombi (Union Kitchen & Bar), Pushkar Marathe (Michelin-recommended Stage Kitchen & Bar) and Daniel Ganem (Michelin-recommended Daniel’s, A Florida Steakhouse).
The weeklong event culminates with the chef-studded Grand Tasting on Jan. 24, featuring cooking demonstrations, 100+ food and drink tastings and live DJs spinning under shaded beachfront tents.
Phillip Marro, who’s co-hosted the festival since its launch in 2019 with Reed, says The Grand Tasting doesn’t aspire to pack its bill with Bobby Flays, Guy Fieris or Robert Irvines. Instead, the mandate is growing the festival gradually, sticking to local chefs instead of headline-grabbing celebrities.
“We’re not trying to challenge [South Beach Wine & Food Festival],” Marro says. “When we first started, it was hard convincing people to travel to Fort Lauderdale for a food festival. Now, Broward’s culinary scene is maturing enough on its own. Now chefs all over the country are looking at us as a place to put their next restaurant.”
Still, given the event’s rapid growth spurt, Reed says she’s cautious about overselling tickets to popular events just to satisfy customer demand.
“We don’t want this to be so large that it’s not a comfortable experience for everyone,” she adds.
Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel
Lola Malyska gets truffles shaved into her mouth during The 2025 Grand Tasting event. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Ritter, whose tourism bureau Visit Lauderdale has sponsored the festival since 2023, agrees.
“We’re not in competition with anyone,” she says. “We’re a board shorts and flip-flops festival. Don’t want to wear stilettos or makeup? Don’t put them on. That being said, we’re all about economic development, so if we can also convince a chef to open a restaurant in Greater Fort Lauderdale, I mean, come on over, you won’t be sorry.”
Diego Ng, owner of Fort Lauderdale dumpling and noodle bar Temple Street Eatery, will host a bao bun-making class, “Breaking Bao,” alongside pastry chef Clarice Lam (Kaya in Orlando). It will feature an Asian-Latin mashup of flavors (Ng is Venezuelan-Chinese) including a carnita-filled bao bun and a frita Cubana shumai topped with chili crisp. He says the class and cuisine reflect Broward’s diverse palate, which is evolving even as the food and wine festival grows larger.
“This is how we show off our diversity,” Ng says. “By carving out our own niche, by bringing in our own Michelin clout, there’s not so much Miami envy anymore. We’ve got the hidden gems right here.”
For more information, go to vlfoodwine.com.
Below, find a list of five marquee events that have limited tickets remaining as of Jan. 8, along with a few classes and seminars. Listed prices include taxes and fees.
Coastal Click Photography for Visit Lauderdale Food and Wine Festival / Courtesy
Chefs Alex Kuk, far left, and Diego Ng, second from right, are the organizers behind the Asian street food and music bash known as Wok ‘n Roll. The event will move to Las Olas Intracoastal Promenade Park when it returns Jan. 22. (Coastal Click Photography for Visit Lauderdale Food and Wine Festival/Courtesy)
SIGNATURE EVENTS
Wok ‘n Roll
7 p.m. Jan. 22; $102.68 via Eventbrite.com
Now 95% sold out, according to Phillip Marro, the street food and music shindig affectionately nicknamed “Asian Woodstock” will upgrade to the Las Olas Intracoastal Promenade Park this year. With a lineup of 15 vendors, it will be hosted by celebrity chef-author Clarice Lam (Kaya in Orlando) and chefs Diego Ng (Temple Street Eatery) and Alex Kuk (Wan’s).
BBQ at the Beach
7 p.m. Jan. 23; $108.29 via Eventbrite.com
Who can stop Apocalypse BBQ’s three-peat? The ‘cue slingers from Kendall, who scored back-to-back “Best Bite” wins in 2024 and 2025 (both People’s Choice awards), is in dominant form as it returns to Las Olas Intracoastal Promenade Park to clash tongs with a flank of local barbecue competitors in Fat Boyz Barbecue, Hate Mondays Tavern, NEVS Barbecue, Southern Barbecue Boys, Battle Rig BBQ and Captain’s BBQ. The action kicks off, as the name implies, at the beach, which is where all grilled-meat competitions should happen.
The Grand Tasting
Noon Jan. 24; $136.35 via Eventbrite.com
Also now 95% sold out, this is the festival’s crown jewel, with the action taking place under beachfront white tents at Las Olas Oceanside Park. Headlining chefs Richard Blais, Eddie Jackson and “Captain” Ron Dimpflmaier will lead cooking demonstrations, while 70 participating restaurants — a festival record — will dish 100 unlimited food, wine and liquor samples.
Picnic in the Park
Noon Jan. 25; free via Eventbrite.com
The first 500 kids will receive a free cookbook at this gathering, which is also at Las Olas Oceanside Park, and features food trucks, cooking demonstrations with celebrity chefs, hands-on classes, vendors, live music and a Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital Teddy Bear Clinic.
Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel
Select bites served during The 2025 Grand Tasting at the Visit Lauderdale Food and Wine Festival. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Beachside Brunch
1 p.m. Jan. 25; $102.68 via Eventbrite.com
Savory and sweet brunch bites are on the menu at this beachfront gathering hosted by celebrity chef Nancy Fuller (Food Network’s “Holiday Baking Championship,” “Spring Baking Championship”) on Las Olas Oceanside Park’s lawn.
CLASSES & SEMINARS
Flow & Feast
6 p.m. Jan. 21 at MAD Arts, 481 S. Federal Highway, Dania Beach; $141.36 via Eventbrite.com
There will be plant-based bites from 2TheRootss chefs Erica Marie Denis and Gabriel Lopez (both formerly of Coconut Grove’s Planta Queen), paired with organic wines from Frey Vineyards, yoga from Michelle Rassner Cash and music.
Libations Exotica
6:30 p.m. Jan. 22 at Cocktail Uncultured, 1109 NE 34th Court, Oakland Park; $74.62 via Eventbrite.com
Oakland Park bartending school Cocktail Uncultured will teach the subtle elixir art of the Mai Tai, Fog Cutter and the Zombie during this tiki history-flavored cocktail class.
Breaking Bao
6:30 p.m. Jan. 23 at Temple Street Eatery; 416 N. Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale; $85.85 via Eventbrite.com
James Beard-nominated chef-author Clarice Lam and Temple Street Eatery owner Diego Ng will lead this bao-making class using recipes from Lam’s 2024 cookbook, “Breaking Bao.”