Inaugural Taste of West Palm Beach Draws 800 Guests and 30 Restaurants to CityPlace, Raising $300,000 for the Palm Beach County Food Bank

West Palm Beach’s dining scene got a festival of its own this month. On Friday, October 16, Related Ross hosted the inaugural Taste of West Palm Beach presented by DoorDash at CityPlace, welcoming 800 guests for a sold-out evening built around the restaurants, chefs and culinary leaders defining the city’s dining culture.

Thirty restaurants from across West Palm Beach took part in the first citywide edition, turning CityPlace into an open-air celebration of food, cocktails and entertainment. The event grew out of the former Taste of CityPlace, reaching beyond the neighborhood for the first time, and it raised $300,000 for the Palm Beach County Food Bank along the way.

The lineup reflected the range of the city’s dining landscape, from longtime local favorites to some of its most anticipated new arrivals: Moody Tongue Sushi, Maman, Fuku, Moxies West Palm Beach, estiatorio Milos, Galley, Ela Curry & Cocktails, Mango Mercado, El Camino, Eataly, Felice, PopUp Bagels, Hive Bakery & Café, True Food Kitchen, Malka, Harry’s, Adrienne’s, BuddhaBerry, The Blue Door, Del Mar, Kitchen Restaurant, The Ben Hotel, Sloan’s and more. Guests also got a first taste of London-based Los Mochis, which recently announced that its first U.S. outpost will open in West Palm Beach in 2027.

“The culinary scene has become an essential part of West Palm Beach’s identity and continued growth,” says Webber Hudson, executive vice president of retail leasing and asset management at Related Ross. “What made Taste of West Palm Beach so special was seeing so many of the people behind that momentum together in one place. As Related Ross continues to invest in the fabric of West Palm Beach, we want to create opportunities that champion local businesses, introduce people to what is happening across the city and contribute to the sense of connection that makes West Palm Beach such an exciting place to be.”

The weekend opened a night earlier, on Thursday, October 15, when 150 guests gathered at the Related Ross Experience Center for an invitation-only evening. At its center was a conversation moderated by journalist Carson Griffith with Kenneth Himmel, CEO of Related Ross; Claudia Lezcano, CEO of Fuku; and Markus Thesleff, CEO of Thesleff Group, on the evolution of West Palm Beach as a hospitality destination and what is drawing leading restaurant and lifestyle concepts to the region.

Around the conversation, Eataly ran an interactive pasta-making station, Los Mochis presented a tasting of its menu, Medium Cool brought the flavors of its celebrated Miami bar north, Blackbird served a signature chocolate activation, Tijon hosted custom perfume-making and Regalya China provided curated gifts for guests to take home.

By Friday evening the focus shifted outdoors, as CityPlace came alive with tasting stations, music, cocktails, chef demonstrations and live entertainment. Rather than experiencing the city one reservation at a time, guests moved through more than 30 of West Palm Beach’s restaurants in a single evening and met many of the chefs and teams behind them.

The partners added their own layers. DoorDash transformed the CityPlace lawn into a VIP retreat with handcrafted cocktails, lounge seating and a signature photo moment. Ferrari and Eataly teamed up for an F1-inspired “60-Second Pit Stop to Italy”: every hour, servers in custom Formula 1-inspired suits made a choreographed entrance from Eataly’s kitchen, weaving through Ferrari’s car displays with racetrack-inspired trays, each timed pit stop carrying a different course.

“Seeing the inaugural Taste of West Palm Beach come to life at CityPlace was an incredible moment for our team,” says Eileen Sturgis, senior director of marketing at Related Ross. “There was such an energy throughout the evening — guests discovering restaurants they hadn’t tried before, chefs connecting with one another and people experiencing CityPlace in an entirely new way. We set out to create something that felt distinctly West Palm Beach, and the enthusiasm from our restaurants, partners and community exceeded what we could have imagined for our first year.”

The celebration also translated into impact for the surrounding community. One hundred percent of ticket proceeds benefited the Palm Beach County Food Bank: Taste of West Palm Beach raised $50,000, and the Related Ross Foundation matched it, bringing the total grant to $100,000 to help provide nutritious food and essential resources to families across Palm Beach County through the holiday season. Bank of America added a $200,000 Neighborhood Builders grant, along with local leadership development training for the organization.

“Our local nonprofits are crucial to promoting economic opportunity and addressing local challenges in Palm Beach County,” says Fabiola Brumley, president of Bank of America Palm Beach County. “This grant will help Palm Beach County Food Bank address critical needs and create lasting change for individuals and families in our communities.”

With its inaugural year, the festival established a new platform for the city’s culinary community, bringing restaurants, residents, visitors and hospitality leaders together while offering a snapshot of the creativity and momentum shaping West Palm Beach today.

Following the success of its first year, Taste of West Palm Beach will return in October 2027. For more information on CityPlace and upcoming events, visit cityplace.com or follow @cityplacewestpalm on Instagram.

For Haute Living’s preview of the festival, see CityPlace & DoorDash Present Taste of West Palm Beach.