The Dandelion Chandelier Luxury Food and Drink Calendar highlights the best food festivals, wine festivals, craft beer celebrations and restaurant-related events around the world in December 2017. For the rest of the Luxury Calendar, click here. For other Food and Drink events, click here.
December is a bubbly month in the world of food and drink. Epicures and oenophiles can mix and mingle at a holiday-themed bar in Athens; a new-era steakhouse in Detroit; a pop-up craft brewery in Manhattan; a champagne party on Pall Mall in London or on the Avenue de Champagne in Epernay. Feeling more adventurous? Head to Oaxaca for the Night of the Radishes, or to Dehli for the Momo Festival. Bon appetit!
All month long, “Miracle on . . . “ holiday pop-up bars will appear in cities all over the world; in addition to offering whimsical and witty holiday-themed cocktails, each Miracle pop-up will also benefit charity: specialty mugs will be sold at all locations, and 10 percent of the mugs’ earnings will be donated to Action Against Hunger. The concept started in New York City with bar owner Greg Boehm, who paused construction on his new bar in the East Village in order to hold a holiday-themed pop-up bar, per his mother’s advice. More than 60 locations are anticipated to be on the roster this year. Here are a couple of noteworthy locations (these all opened November 24 and remain through December 24):
- In Manhattan, Miracle returns to the East Village cocktail bar Mace with four new drinks for 2017: How the Gimlet Stole Christmas (gin with a pine-carraway-sage cordial); Run Run Rudolph (an iced hot chocolate with tequila, coffee liqueur and Mexican spices, pictured); You’ll Shoot Your Rye Out (pumpkin-spiced rye whiskey, Budweiser-marshmallow syrup and egg); and Fa La La La La, La La La La (gin, aquavit, hazelnut liqueur, cardamom, vanilla, lemon, egg white and club soda).
- In Hong Kong you’ll find Miracle hosted at The Lily & Bloom
- In Trnava, Slovakia it’s hosted at Synagóga Café
- In Montreal, Canada its hosted at Nexus Bar
- In Athens, Greece its hosted at The Trap
As Detroit natives, we have to give a shout-out to two relatively new restaurants in town that are garnering rave reviews: Prime + Proper is a steakhouse where instead of ordering off a menu, diners visit the in-house butcher shop and speak with executive butcher Walter Apfelbaum to find the cuts they’re looking for. At Lady of the House, hometown chef Kate Williams is honoring the best of Detroit’s urban farms with a menu of what she lovingly refers to as “ugly food:” creative dishes made from imperfect ingredients that would otherwise be thrown out. The restaurant is serving dinner at two sittings on Christmas Eve – grab your seat now.
The Louvre in Paris hosts Le Festival des Meilleurs Vins, a unique meeting of winemakers and lovers of wine. The wines presented are approved by Bettane and Desseauve before being accepted for the Grand Tasting — Dec 1-2
The Telegraph’s ultimate luxury whisky fair returns for its fourth year to One Whitehall Place in London; there will be over 100 new and well-loved whiskies available for sampling, with world-renowned spirit experts, specially-crafted masterclasses and an extended three-course whisky-inspired meal – Dec 4-5
Blue Point Brewery is opening a pop-up bar for three days only at 156 Orchard Street on the Lower East Side in Manhattan, promising beer tastings, live music, giveaways, a mobile oyster shucker and an “underwater lounge” – Dec 6-9
Beerland on Viceland TV follows Golden Road Brewing founder Meg Gill as she sets out on a cross-country journey to meet with home-brewers and find the best brews in each city she travels to; the new season premieres Dec 7
Sainsbury’s is opening a 3-day pop-up bar in central London to celebrate sparkling wine. Located in Pall Mall, the menu will include five premium sparkling wines; each sitting will be an hour and a half in length and will offer drinks by the glass as well as a selection of charcuterie, antipasti,and specialty cheeses; bookings are limited to a maximum of six people – Dec 7-9
Top Chef Season 15 begins on Bravo – Dec 7
During the annual Habits de Lumiere, Epernay (the capital of Champagne) celebrates three days of events, drinks and food along the famous Avenue de Champagne. There are installations in the streets, an exhibition of vintage cars; street theater; son et lumiere and music. Many of the major Champagne houses along the Avenue de Champagne are open to the public, with Champagne bars, illuminations and tastings. The Festival also has a spectacular fireworks display – Dec 8-10
Foodie alert! The last Windstar James Beard Foundation Cruise of the year will venture to San Juan and the Virgin Islands with Mario Pagán, one of Puerto Rico’s best chefs; Chef Mario will spend a week aboard the Star Pride yacht exploring the culinary wonders of the Caribbean: his Spanish-influenced home island, plus French-governed St. Barth’s and the English-heritage Virgin Islands – departing Dec 9
The 12th annual Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Show at the Washington Convention Center in DC will host more than 400 exhibitors, including specialty food companies, caterers, party planners, personal chefs, kitchen planners and appliance manufacturers. The highlight of the weekend is the appearances and cooking demonstrations by award-winning local and national chefs — Dec 9-10
Grenson Shoes at 37 Jermyn Street in London is hosting a Grenson Social; Ruth Spivey (wine expert, writer and founder of Wine Car Boot) will hold a Christmas Wine Masterclass and Tasting at the store, covering what to drink, how to drink it and the coolest wine related gifts for your friends and family, with plenty of time for an ‘ask anything wine’ Q&A – Dec 13
The Prosecco Festival comes to London for the very first time this month for a day of indulgence of Prosecco, Cocktails, Fine wines and street food at Tobacco Dock – Dec 16
The annual GoBuzzinga Momo Festival in Dehli will feature 100 varieties of momos, including some really unusual fillings such as Oreos, bacon, vodka, Maggie, peanut butter, and paan – Dec 16-17
Night of the Radishes, the Mexican city of Oaxaca hosts a food and folk art festival where the radish takes center stage; local artisans carve beautiful sculptures such as animals, Jesus, and even Mexico’s revolutionary hero Emiliano Zapato out of the root vegetable — Dec 23
National Champagne Day is . . . wait for it . . . December 31
See other December 2017 Events:
— Travel
— The Arts
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