Downtown West Palm Beach gets a new food festival on Friday, Oct. 16. Taste of West Palm Beach, presented by DoorDash, takes over CityPlace with tastings from more than 30 restaurants, live entertainment and chef demonstrations. General admission is $75, VIP is $130, and 100 percent of ticket proceeds go to the Palm Beach County Food Bank.

If the format sounds familiar, that is because it grew out of Taste of CityPlace. CityPlace and its developer, Related Ross, are relaunching the event under a new name and pitching it as a citywide culinary festival, with an expanded lineup and more going on across the district. This is its first year.

Who is cooking

The list reads like a tour of where West Palm has been eating lately. Participating restaurants include:

  • Estiatorio Milos, the Greek seafood house
  • Eataly, which is also setting up an Italian Pit Stop with car displays and its own VIP area
  • Maman, Fuku and Popup Bagels
  • Moody Tongue Sushi, Felice, Malka and Harry's
  • Ela Curry & Cocktails, Mango Mercado and El Camino
  • True Food Kitchen, Moxies West Palm Beach and Galley
  • Hive Bakery & Café, BuddaBerry and Adrienne's
  • The Blue Door, Del Mar, Kitchen Restaurant, Sloan's and The Ben Hotel

That is a wide spread on purpose: fine dining next to bagels, curry next to sushi, longtime local names next to newer arrivals. One ticket covers tastings from every participating restaurant, which makes it the cheapest way to try a handful of places you have been meaning to book.

General admission or VIP

General admission, $75, starts at 6 p.m. and includes tastings from all the participating restaurants, live entertainment, culinary demonstrations and brand activations around CityPlace.

VIP, $130, gets you in an hour early, from 5 to 6 p.m., before the crowds. It also includes entry to the VIP Lounge presented by DoorDash on the lawn at CityPlace, with a dedicated cocktail bar, two complimentary drinks, a curated gift bag and access to premium tastings.

Two corners of the night are worth seeking out. Eataly is bringing a taste of Italy with striking car displays, an Italian Pit Stop and its own bespoke VIP area, so it is part tasting and part show. The DoorDash lounge, set up on the lawn, is the place to sit down with a handcrafted cocktail when you need a break between plates.

If the restaurants you care most about are the busier names on the list, VIP's early hour is the real value: shorter lines while the kitchens are fresh.

Where the money goes

Every dollar of ticket sales goes to the Palm Beach County Food Bank, which supplies meals and resources to families across the county. It is the kind of night out where the price of admission does something beyond dinner.

How to go

Tickets are sold in advance through the festival's ticketing page, linked from CityPlace's announcement. CityPlace sits in downtown West Palm Beach along Rosemary Avenue, just across Okeechobee Boulevard from the Kravis Center, so it is easy to make an evening of it.

A few tips: come hungry but pace yourself, since 30-plus tastings add up fast. Wear shoes for walking, because activations are spread throughout CityPlace. And if you want a reason to stay out after the tastings wind down, CityPlace's own restaurants are steps away.

The same weekend is one of October's busiest on the Gold Coast, with Oktoberfest in Lake Worth and HarbourFest in Jupiter, so if you are planning a full Friday in Palm Beach County, start here.