International Paella & Wine Festival

First International Paella Festival?
We bought the tickets last minute, so glad it was not sold out. It was advertised at unlimited paella tasting and unlimited wine and beers, 12−6pm. We were a little bummed out because things didn’t turn out the way we were expecting regarding «unlimited». I understand it was the first time Chamber of Commerce organized this, so here are some suggestions.
–I had no idea about their tasting schedule because there was no details on their site. What happened was we got there at 2 and most food and wine were out. They should have put the schedule on their site cos I knew it I would have showed up a lot earlier!
–Long long long lines for those vendors that still had food or drinks
–All food and drinks were out by 4pm. Did they ovesell the tickets?
I still had a blast because it only took 2 beers to make me happy, but I wish I had a little more considered I paid $ 50 for the ticket. I would still go back if they are doing it again next year, and I will make sure I get there at 12, sharp! Ha.

SD sure loves festivals… Any kind whether it’s tacos, crawfish to paella, you’ll find it in SD.
First of all this was the first international paella festival hosted by SD. For $ 22 you can get the eating only and for an extra $ 30 you can get the wine and beer tasting. Since this was the first it had a lot of improvements to make.
Improvements/​tips/​must knows for next time
–They should provide a list of a schedule of times of each booths time for the paella… Or maybe ring a bell when they are serving… I came right at when they open at 12 and was told that certain times the contestants were able to serve, even if they are done cooking. So that not everyone is lined up for everywhere. I think the times were 12, 12:30, 1, 1:30 etc. so at the half hour mark you’ll have at least 3 – 5 booths serving. Some people do not know this, so they didn’t get any food. We asked one of the booths– so since we knew this we ate 10 plates of paella. YES 10 plates!
–During the times that they are not serving, utilize the beer and wine tasting. During the «down time» the in between a we didn’t stand around waiting in lines, we utilize the unlimited booze. There were about 5 breweries which wasn’t much… I would hope more breweries participate. Those who didn’t missed out bc it would have been good advertisement like Mike Hess and Modern Times or Green Flash. Ballast point, thorn, Coronado and stone were smart. I like them. As for wines there wasn’t a lot of wineries, and they were stingy on the tasting but just keep coming back to them. Lines weren’t long for the wineries. They had many international and local wineries. I bought a case of one that I liked. We were able to drink about 7 – 10 full glasses of beer and probably about 5 different wine tasting.
–Tables and shade. Yes this was a problem as people hogged the table with umbrellas. We didn’t mind because we brought our own blanket to sit on. Sun wasn’t too bad, just make sure you put sunscreen on. And you can bring your own gear or bring a hat.
–If you came late like my friends then for sure you’ll only get 3 – 4 plates of food and barely and drinks… It’s best to come early or you won’t get your money’s worth.
It was hard to know who won as signs were clear on their booths. They can improve this next year by making food and drinks more readily available throughout the whole time (12 – 6) instead of the earlier you came the more in luck you’ll have. I came early and had a great experience! I wish there were more breweries.
What about the actually paella? In order to not get full we ate the seafood and maybe 1 or 2 scoops of rice. Some booth cheated and used risotto. Others did it the right way and it ended up being dried. I was able to get prawns and a booth (forgot he number) gave me fresh sea urchin! Some people got lobster! I couldn’t remember the number of the best one though as near the end I was so wasted and the heat after the sun came out intensified it. I had a great time and would do it again next year!

I won tickets to the festival and I was expecting to eat a lot of paella and drink lots of good wine. Granted, there was a lot of different paella contestants there, but the way it was set up was very confusing and not conducive to efficiency. There were only a few paella contestants putting out paella at one time so you would have to wait 10 – 15 minutes in line for each paella tasting. I only ended up eating 3 different types of paella and didn’t drink any wine or beer because the lines were super long. There wasn’t very many tables where you could sit and eat your paella so we ended up standing and it got tiring. The paella portions were generous and the paella was delicious! I have never had black paella before and it was the most delicious thing I have ever eaten!
All in all, it was a good event but I think the logistics could be a little better. Since this was the San Diego Chamber’s first Paella Fest, I understand that kinks need to be worked out. I most definitely will be back next year!
Parking was $ 10 down the street.

It was a beautiful day and perfect location for a festival. We got here late. The perils of parenting, I had to wait on the babysitter. Rather than attempt parking at the convention center, we opted for the structure at the Hilton and enjoyed the waterfront stroll down to the Embarcadero. Sure, we may have tempted fate a couple times with those tourist families on bike rentals, but we managed to make it safely anyway.
Check in was pretty quick and efficient. We just handed over our printed passes and were given our souvenir cups and wristbands. As we entered we got stamped, and that was it. Everyone was friendly and fast.
The music was loud, but not obnoxious. There were vendors lined up as we entered and an EMT available. Being the sweets addict that I am, naturally I noticed the vendor selling donuts and cookies right away. There were other booths there, olive oil, candles, ect. I just always notice my first love and gravitate there.
We arrived around three and almost all of the booths were already sold out of food. This was a huge bummer. The festival was scheduled to run until six, so I’m not sure about the planning on the part of the vendors there. Hopefully being that it was a first year event this will be improved on for next time.
We managed to sample some of the craft breweries though, those were still open for the most part. I will say that service at these vendor booths was definitely better. They were friendlier and not as distracted. In the food booths I noticed there was a tendency to socialize with each other and not the patrons.
This was a nice little festival overall. I think the food situation needs to worked out though. It’s a great location and the entertainment was nice. I can definitely see it growing larger with a little more organization and publicity.

12 – 6 sounded like some nice sunsoaked day drinking mixture with carbo/​seafood loading and lounging. Pretty perfect right? Well we all know the Embarcadero is well suited for a variety of events, but as with most 1^st annual events there will be shortcomings.
Aside from sharing Downtown with a baseball game, Rock & Roll Marathon packet pickup and some dodgeball event at the Hilton we were still able to enjoy the beautiful SD Embarcadero weather. Parking had quite a few bad options so I chose the lesser of them, finding parking past the Hilton structure was highly unlikely.
I was impressed at the speed of check in and the disposable wine glass with the notched finger holder. I was a little worried seeing EMT’s at an event thinking what sort of party needs EMT’s?
I personally love Paella having had the real deal when I was eastern Spain years ago. The fresh seafood, green beans and spices do wonderful justice with mix of terrestrial proteins like Rabbit or aviary like chicken. Most places out here use Arborio rice since Bomba is pretty rare. In case you’ve never been to Spain think Italian Risotto or Creole Jambalaya or Indian Biryani for similarities.
Showing up fashionably late due to a variety of reasons we figured the full experience might be lessened, but halfway through 95% of all the vendors were out, and 80% of the sold out vendors had packed up. Did no one see the capacity and plan accordingly? This was highly disappointing. Of the handful we tried 1 was excellent the rest were mediocre with vendors sauced up and socializing, basically holding everything up. I was hungry and was left wanting. I was thirsty and was left wanting despite BP and Coronado serving far longer than others like Stone.
I loved the free water, softdrinks. The venue lacked shade, cash food for those who got here basically after 2pm when it sounds like everyone ran out, desserts. The music was ok, probably would have been better if I had more to drink.
The event has a lot of work to do and frankly I didn’t even feel like voting for anyone because I was so disappointed. A dish so highly prized, heck their national dish, was done a disservice as a whole when the majority of vendors half assed it or didn’t have the foresight to do it proud.
I look forward to actually being in Spain and eating the real thing once again until this festival grows into it’s own.

It’s all about the Bomba Rice, right?
I was impressed at the number of contestants and corresponding paella pans — the pans were huge! San Diego’s 1^st Annual Paella and Wine Festival was SO fun!
I loved discussing the different entries with random people. I loved my plastic wine cup with a grip-​indentation for my thumb. The weather at the Embarcadero was perfect for the event.
I have my game plan for next year: take a bunch of my friends, get there before the gates open, spread out — there were at least (24) contestants, then meet under an umbrella with our plates o’ paella and judge each entry.
Thank you so much, Brad, for making the tickets available to be raffled. Thank you, Brenda, for being lucky, winning them, and then having your Bonsai event conflict with this festival. Thank you random attendee, for leaving from the closest parking lot right as I was pleading my case with the Parking Lot attendant. Thank you Parking Lot attendant, for letting me park so close to the event.
I’m going to have so much fun here next year.

Very disappointing. Got here shortly after they opened, half the booth’s food wasn’t ready. Looooong lines for ones that were. Got to sample maybe 6 booths (out of 50!) And they are all out of food again! They are all saying 2 more hours for food!
Now over 2 hours later… still no food! We paid $ 50 each for this?
I go to a lot of food events in town and even out of state. Never seen an event run out of food. Inexcusable. Boyfriend and I trying to figure out where we’re gonna go eat after this!
Also NOT handicap friendly. All grass and uneven ground. No shade. People stake out shaded tables early, and hang onto them. This is where Bacon And Barrels is held.