BottleRock Food Beats All Other Festival Food

Seventy-five thousand people streamed into Napa this weekend — doubling its population — all to bask in the glory of big music acts like Florence + The Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stevie Wonder, and more. This being Napa, there was also just as much big-name food and wine to indulge in, with appearances from chefs like Gordon Ramsay and Tyler Florence, sushi from Morimoto, and wine from Cakebread. Here’s a rundown of the highlights.

Brian Feinzimer

The crowd enraptured by Morimoto's tuna.

• Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto not only provided sushi to the masses and mingled with guests on the SPG Amex Skydeck, but he also demonstrated how to break down a 200-pound tuna — with Green Day of all people. It was entirely too much tuna.
• Other demo chefs included Michael Mina, Chris Cosentino, Mei Lin, Charles Phan and more, each of whom paired up with music acts like X Ambassadors and Grouplove to wow the crowd in between sets.
• There were a whopping 81 food vendors, with names like Bouchon Bakery, Angele, Redd, The Restaurant at Meadowood, and other Napa heavy hitters. Best bites included Ca’Momi salami pizza, India Gourmet rice bowls, Farmerbrown’s chicken and waffles, and Seoul of Taipei smothered short rib fries, and nearly every hand seemed to be carrying Gerard's paella.

Stefanie Tuder

Smothered short rib fries

• This was no average festival food — 1313 Main chef Adam Ross served octopus aguachile with grilled Spanish octopus over charred avocado, blood orange aguachile, and squid ink chips.
• Drinks were equally as bougie, with Four Barrel Coffee, Cakebread wine, Fort Point beer leading the charge of 26 beers and 30 wines.
• After the festival, Napa was stretched to its limits, and while some bars took advantage by charging up to $20 cover, others seemingly slept on the extra business, closing by 11 p.m. on Sunday night.