Road Trip: Tickets Now on Sale for Pebble Beach Food & Wine, Vegas Uncork'd

Stone crab claw and Champagne Happy Hour at PBFW 2012

Now that we've all settled back into routine, it's time to plan ahead for the big food events for the year. First up are a couple you have to plan ahead for since their both an easy road trip away. Pebble Beach Food & Wine returns for its sixth ye (April 4-7)ar, a four-day extravaganza set along the gorgeous Central Coast seaside getaway. Much like Los Angeles Food & Wine - the founders are the same - there are multiple events each day, different lunches, cooking demos and tastings with celebrity-chef talent like Daniel Boulud, Masaharu Morimoto, Danny Meyer, Charles Phan and Grant Achatz, as well as our own local talent like Ray Garcia (Fig) and David LeFevre (MB Post).

Why Pebble is better than LAFW, though: everything takes place within the picturesque 17 Mile Drive, so you can easily take cabs and shuttles (and Lexus cars, if you pay enough) to get around. That means stumbling around in constant Champagne bliss for days on end, and you never have to drive. And there's golf, sometimes with the chefs themselves. Tickets range from $100 for a single event to more than $4500 for a four-day pass; the best bet for the money is always the Grand Tasting where more than 50 chefs and hundreds of wine are on offer for $250 per person.

And on May 9-12, Bon Appetit returns to the Nevada desert with its 7th Vegas Uncork'd, another big weekend of food, celebrity chefs, cocktails and showgirls (we've seen 'em!). Some new events include a kickoff party at Hakkasan at MGM Grand, a cooking demo and wine tasting with Joel Robuchon, afternoon tea with Charlie Palmer, and a luncheon with Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Of course, others like Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken, Michael Mina, Guy Savoy and Gordon Ramsay, who just opened two new Vegas restaurants, will be there, too. If anything, at least for the poker tournament. Get schedule info and tickets here.