10 MICHELIN Guide Restaurants to Pair With Palm Beach Food & Wine Festival 2026

A festival weekend with a MICHELIN Guide itinerary

The Palm Beach Food & Wine Festival returns December 10 through 13, 2026, with four days of dinners, brunches, tastings and visiting chefs. This year, the festival schedule also overlaps with a milestone for the county: Palm Beach now has its first restaurant awarded One MICHELIN Star, two Bib Gourmands and a broader group of MICHELIN Guide Selected restaurants.

Five restaurants in that local selection have direct festival connections. Aioli, Buccan, Coolinary and the Parched Pig, Ela Curry & Cocktails, and Stage Kitchen & Bar host ticketed events or appear at the Grand Tasting. The other five are not currently named on the festival schedule, but they give visitors strong options before, between or after official events. Event details and prices can change, so confirm the latest schedule before making plans.

Emelina: Palm Beach County's first MICHELIN Star

Lead the weekend with Emelina, the intimate West Palm Beach restaurant from chefs Osmel González and Camila Salazar. The restaurant asks how Cuban cooking might evolve when its foundations meet global inspiration, precise technique and ingredients sourced largely from South Florida. The MICHELIN Guide highlights the personal quality of the cooking, from local oysters with yucca foam to dry-aged beef with green mango mojo and black bean sauce.

Emelina holds One MICHELIN Star, making it the county's highest-rated restaurant in the 2026 selection. It is not currently listed as a festival venue or participant, so think of it as a separate reservation that can turn the festival into a wider culinary trip. Its small counter-focused room also makes advance planning especially important.

Aioli: a Bib Gourmand with two ways into the festival

Aioli comes next because it connects MICHELIN recognition directly to the festival calendar. The West Palm Beach bakery and café earned a Bib Gourmand, the Guide's distinction for good-quality, good-value cooking. House-made breads, pastries, sandwiches and seasonal chef-driven dishes have made it a neighborhood fixture rather than a special-occasion-only dining room.

On Friday, December 11, Aioli hosts Dinner at Aioli Featuring Frederick Wildman & Sons, a five-course seated dinner with wine pairings scheduled for 7 p.m. at $275 per person. Aioli is also listed among the restaurants at the Sunday Grand Tasting. That gives festivalgoers a choice between a focused dinner and a shorter tasting-format introduction.

Palm Beach Meats: the other Bib Gourmand

Palm Beach Meats pairs a specialty butcher shop with a restaurant built around premium beef, including Wagyu, in West Palm Beach. Its Bib Gourmand recognizes the kitchen's ability to make high-quality meat feel approachable rather than ceremonial. The format works well for diners who want a relaxed meal that is still grounded in serious sourcing and technique.

The restaurant is not currently named on the 2026 festival schedule. Place it on a separate lunch or dinner slot, particularly if the official tasting events leave you wanting a more concentrated meat-focused meal.

Buccan and Stage open Thursday with MICHELIN Guide Selected dinners

Two MICHELIN Guide Selected restaurants anchor Thursday evening. At Buccan in Palm Beach, chef Clay Conley's contemporary American menu moves from crudos and shareable small plates to seasonal pastas. The First Bite Featuring Terlato Wines is scheduled there on December 10 at 7 p.m. The posted format is a five-course seated dinner with wine pairings at $350 per person.

Stage Kitchen & Bar in Palm Beach Gardens hosts SPICE Featuring Bouchaine Vineyards at the same time. Chef Pushkar Marathe is joined by Nina Compton, Tristen Epps-Long and Diego Oka for a four-course dinner shaped by the chefs' cultural roots, with paired wines. Tickets are listed at $275. Stage is also part of Sunday's Grand Tasting, offering another way to sample Marathe's internationally influenced cooking.

Coolinary and Ela give Saturday two distinct directions

Saturday begins at MICHELIN Guide Selected Coolinary and the Parched Pig in Palm Beach Gardens. Chef-owner Tim Lipman's seasonal contemporary menu is known for ranging freely, from lamb croquetas and deviled eggs to ramen, seafood and burgers. The festival's Brunch at Coolinary Featuring Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte begins at 11 a.m. on December 12, with four courses and champagne pairings listed at $225. Coolinary also appears in the Grand Tasting lineup.

That evening, MICHELIN Guide Selected Ela Curry & Cocktails hosts Maneet's Bollywood Experience. Marathe joins Maneet Chauhan for a walk-around celebration of Indian food, music and color at 7 p.m., with tickets listed at $125. Ela is also scheduled for the Grand Tasting, so diners deciding between Saturday events can still encounter the restaurant on Sunday.

Three more MICHELIN Guide Selected stops beyond the schedule

Moody Tongue Sushi at Hilton West Palm Beach brings a structured sushi experience to the downtown festival orbit. The MICHELIN Guide Selected restaurant applies a beverage-minded perspective to sushi and is a natural choice for a polished dinner near the convention center, although it is not currently listed as a festival participant.

Farther south, Nicholson Muir Distinguished Meats occupies a historic cottage in Boynton Beach and combines butcher-shop craftsmanship with a chef-led steak experience. In Palm Beach Gardens, The Butcher's Club at PGA National Resort offers a sleek modern steakhouse setting under chef Jeremy Ford. Both are MICHELIN Guide Selected, and neither is currently named on the festival schedule. They are best treated as destination meals for visitors extending the weekend beyond the central events.

Finish at the Grand Tasting, then keep exploring

The 19th Annual Grand Tasting runs Sunday, December 13, from 2 to 6 p.m. at the Palm Beach County Convention Center. The posted lineup includes Aioli, Coolinary and the Parched Pig, Ela Curry & Cocktails, and Stage Kitchen & Bar among more than 50 restaurants, alongside wines, spirits and the Grand Chef Throwdown.

Use the festival events as the fixed points, then build outward. Emelina is the priority reservation for a One MICHELIN Star experience; Aioli and Palm Beach Meats represent the Bib Gourmand tier; and the seven MICHELIN Guide Selected restaurants show how varied the county's dining has become. That distinction between official festival participation and dining around the festival keeps the itinerary accurate while giving the entire weekend more range.