Casa de Campo Food & Wine Festival Returns, Betting on Culinary Cachet
Dominican Republic
Key Facts
—Event dates The 4th annual Casa de Campo Food & Wine Festival is scheduled for 9-10 October 2026.
—Headline chefs Confirmed names include Michael Mina, Hubert Keller, Joe Isidori, Adam Pawlak, and Olivier Bur.
—Venues The Grand Tasting Pavilion will be at the Marina Riverside Center; a ‘Dinner Under the Stars’ is set for Minitas Beach Club.
—Michelin status There is no Michelin restaurant selection or starred restaurants in the Dominican Republic. Michelin’s presence is limited to the Green Guide and Keys for hotels.
—50 Best record No La Romana restaurant has ever appeared on Latin America’s 50 Best list. Aguaji, in Sosúa on the north coast, became the first Dominican entry at No. 88 in 2025.
The Casa de Campo Food & Wine Festival returns to La Romana for its fourth edition on 9 and 10 October 2026, bringing a roster of internationally recognised chefs to the Dominican Republic’s most exclusive resort complex. The event is the centrepiece of a deliberate push by Casa de Campo to recast the southeastern city as a serious fine-dining destination, a narrative that has gained traction in travel marketing but sits at odds with the country’s absence from the MICHELIN Guide’s restaurant selections and the geographic concentration of its highest-ranked kitchens far from La Romana.
The Sales Pitch Versus the Independent Record
Statements positioning La Romana as the Caribbean’s culinary epicentre have circulated widely in promotional material tied to the festival. Jason Kycek, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Casa de Campo, told media that the resort’s goal ‘from day one’ has been to position Casa de Campo as the culinary epicentre of the Caribbean. That line is an ambition, not a finding, and it is worth treating as such.
The independent record is thinner. There is no MICHELIN Guide restaurant selection covering the Dominican Republic. Michelin’s Latin America restaurant coverage extends only to Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina, and no Dominican restaurant holds a star. Michelin does maintain a Dominican presence through its Green Guide travel series and the MICHELIN Keys hotel rating system – Casa de Campo itself is a Keys-listed property – but that is a hotel distinction, not a restaurant award.
The World’s 50 Best organisation tells a similar story, with one important caveat. No restaurant in La Romana has ever appeared on the Latin America’s 50 Best list or its extended ranking. However, the country is not entirely absent: Aguaji, the restaurant run by chef Ines Paez Nin – known as ‘Chef Tita’ – entered the extended list at No. 88 in 2025, the first Dominican entry ever. Aguaji is in Sosúa, Puerto Plata, on the north coast, roughly a five-hour drive from La Romana. The distance matters because it highlights how much of the country’s independent culinary recognition is happening far from the Casa de Campo ecosystem.
What Is Actually Confirmed for October 2026
The festival was announced around 31 July 2026. Two anchor events are confirmed: a Grand Tasting Pavilion at the Marina Riverside Center, and a ‘Dinner Under the Stars’ at the Minitas Beach Club. The chef lineup includes Michael Mina, the Michelin-starred American restaurateur behind a portfolio of high-end concepts; Hubert Keller, the Alsatian-born chef known for San Francisco’s Fleur de Lys; Joe Isidori, a New York-based chef whose surname is misspelled ‘Isadori’ in some of the resort’s own promotional posts; Adam Pawlak, the Milwaukee chef and US television personality behind the Egg & Flour pasta bars; and Olivier Bur, the Swiss-born chef who runs Casarré in Santo Domingo, the only Dominican-based name on the headline list.
What is not confirmed is pricing. Figures of US$125 per day for general admission, US$200 for the gala dinner, and US$3,599 for a full festival package have appeared in online forums and older listings, but those correspond to the third edition held in October 2025. Casa de Campo has not published 2026 pricing as of this writing. Anyone planning to attend should wait for official channels rather than budgeting against stale numbers.
Attendance figures from the 2025 edition, published on the resort’s own landing page, cited more than 3,000 attendees and over 30 exhibitors. Those are last year’s numbers, not a projection for 2026, and the resort has not released a capacity target for the upcoming event.
The Resort’s Culinary Infrastructure
Casa de Campo has been quietly rebuilding its food and beverage leadership. In March 2026, the resort appointed Pedro Arceyut as Director of Food & Beverage, Osamu Román as Culinary Director, and Marcela Pizarro as General Manager of Altos de Chavón, the replica Mediterranean village within the property. Román’s CV includes opening or advising more than 25 restaurants and three resorts, including kitchens recognised by the Michelin Guide in other countries.
The resort was named ‘Caribbean Culinary Resort of the Year’ at the Caribbean Travel Awards in January 2025, a trade distinction that signals industry attention if not independent critical assessment. Within the gated Casa de Campo complex and its marina, several restaurants operate at the fine-dining price tier – Tripadvisor assigns four-euro-sign (€€€€) brackets to SBG Casa de Campo, Minitas Beach Club & Restaurant, La Caña, and La Piazzetta. La Casita, a waterfront spot accessible to villa guests, sits in the €€-€€€ range. None of these venues has been reviewed by a major international guide in the manner of a Michelin or 50 Best panel.
For context, OpenTable listed five restaurants in all of La Romana as of October 2025, a market-size signal that highlights how concentrated the dining scene is. The resort’s villa access fee, introduced 1 February 2026, runs US$30 per adult per night and US$15 per child aged 4-12 for villa guests using resort amenities, a cost that sits on top of any festival ticket.
What This Means for Expats and Nomads
For international readers living in or passing through the Dominican Republic, the festival is a genuine opportunity to eat food prepared by chefs who command high prices in US and European markets, in a setting that is logistically straightforward if you are already on the island. La Romana is about 90 minutes by car from Punta Cana International Airport and roughly two hours from Santo Domingo’s Las Américas International Airport. The Dominican peso trades at approximately DOP 58 to the US dollar, which makes on-the-ground costs outside the resort – transport, accommodation in La Romana town, meals beyond the festival – relatively affordable for dollar earners.
The caveat is that the ‘fine-dining hub’ framing is, for now, a marketing proposition attached to a single resort. La Romana does not have an independent restaurant scene that competes with Mexico City, Lima, or even San Juan. What it has is a well-capitalised resort willing to spend on talent and infrastructure, and a festival designed to generate exactly the kind of headlines that blur the line between ambition and achievement. Readers who go in with that distinction clear will likely have a better time than those expecting a Caribbean San Sebastián.
Practical Considerations for Attendees
No 2026 ticket prices have been released. Check the official Casa de Campo website or contact the resort directly for on-sale dates. If the 2025 structure is any guide, expect a tiered system with day passes, dinner-only options, and multi-day packages that bundle accommodation, but do not budget against last year’s figures – inflation and demand could shift pricing meaningfully.
Accommodation outside the resort is available in La Romana town and nearby Bayahíbe, though availability tightens during festival dates. Villa rentals within Casa de Campo come with the US$30 per adult per night access fee noted above. Dining reservations at the resort’s signature restaurants – particularly SBG and Minitas – should be made well in advance, as the festival draws a crowd that fills seats quickly.
The currency is the Dominican peso. US dollars are widely accepted in tourist zones, but change often comes in pesos at an unfavourable rate. ATMs are available at the resort and in La Romana town. Tipping culture follows US norms in high-end settings; 15-20% on restaurant bills is standard, and a 10% service charge is often included by law – check your bill to avoid double-tipping.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the Dominican Republic have any Michelin-starred restaurants?
No. There is no MICHELIN Guide restaurant selection covering the Dominican Republic. Michelin’s Latin America restaurant guides are limited to Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina. Michelin does rate Dominican hotels through its MICHELIN Keys programme, and Casa de Campo is a Keys-listed property, but that is a hotel distinction, not a restaurant star.
Has any Dominican restaurant made the Latin America's 50 Best list?
Yes, one. Aguaji, by chef Ines Paez Nin (‘Chef Tita’), entered the extended 50 Best list at No. 88 in 2025. It is located in Sosúa, Puerto Plata, on the north coast – roughly a five-hour drive from La Romana. No restaurant in La Romana itself has ever appeared on the list.
How much do tickets cost for the 2026 Casa de Campo Food & Wine Festival?
As of this writing, Casa de Campo has not published 2026 pricing. Figures circulating online – US$125 for day passes, US$200 for the gala dinner, and US$3,599 for packages – refer to the 2025 edition. Check the resort’s official channels for current information before booking.
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Correction, 2 August 2026: An earlier version of this article spelled chef Joe Isidori’s surname ‘Isadori’, described Olivier Bur as a European pastry specialist and did not state that the accompanying photograph is an illustrative image rather than a picture of the festival. Mr Bur is a Swiss-born chef based in the Dominican Republic, where he runs the Santo Domingo restaurant Casarré. The exchange rate has also been updated to the current DOP 58 to the US dollar.
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Sources: Latin America's 50 Best list; MICHELIN Guide.
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