The big annual food festival known as Eat Drink SF is now in its 11th year, and this time around it's switching up the venue and paring down to one day — Saturday, August 24.

The festival began a decade ago in Union Square as SF Chefs Food Wine, and this 11th iteration is moving out of Fort Mason, where it's spent the last few years, to The Midway in Dogpatch. Unlike the majority of food festivals out there — including the much ballyhoo'd Pebble Beach Food & Wine in April — Eat Drink SF has always been heavily focused on the food, and SF's world-class array of restaurants. (Pebble Beach, in particular, feels heavily weighted toward the wine, and to chichi wine tasting events.) This year will feature day and night sessions of the Grand Tasting on August 24, with different chefs and bites at each — about 20 per session. And while there will be some cooking demos, the festival no longer includes several days of breakout events as it once did.

So, think of it as a very elaborate cocktail party, with enough food to make dinner out of it, and plenty of booze of every kind at the ready.

The Saturday afternoon tasting already sold out of general-admission tickets, but VIP is still available, and both GA and VIP are still available for Saturday evening (which runs from 7:45 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.).

There's a presenting sponsor this year, JetBlue, and some extras being offered in the VIP lounge including caviar, and a special cigar lounge sponsored by Oliva Cigar. Also, a special pizza oven is bring brought in, and there's going to be a Backyard Bites and Bourbon area with food from Hollow Cow and a Bulleit-sponsored installation involving "3D printed cocktails" (whatever those are!).

The Saturday evening roster of participating restaurants includes Ayala, M.Y. China, Absinthe, Barcino, Bellota, Comstock Saloon, Serpentine, Mission Bowling Club, Rambler, and the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay. Saturday's VIP lounge includes Alexander’s Steak House, Ozumo Santana Row, PABU & The Ramen Bar, Perbacco, and Spruce. (See the full list here.)

And note that in addition to the food, there is always an array of interesting cocktails for the taking, and plenty of wine and beer being poured — participating brands include Wines of Germany, Magnolia Brewing Co., Guinness, Lillet, The Botanist gin, Don Julio, and Ketel One.

GA tickets for Saturday evening are $129, with VIP going for $229.

Photo: Andrew Herrold - Gamma Nine // g9 Event Photography