Get ready for one of the biggest food festivals in the city! Proud to present its ninth year, the Austin Food and Wine Festival is just around the corner and today the event announced its preliminary chef and event lineups and opened ticket sales for the festival happening on April 24-26, 2020. Austin Food + Wine Festival is proud to be the benefactor of the Austin Food & Wine Alliance, a non-profit dedicated to fostering awareness and innovation in the Central Texas food and wine community through grants, educational programming, and events.
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The 9th Annual Austin Food and Wine Festival
According to the press release, the Texas festival will feature more than 100 chefs, restaurants and wine & spirits experts over three days at Auditorium Shores and Fair Market, where attendees will get the chance to take part in beer, cocktail and wine tastings, book signings, live music, interactive dinner parties, grilling demos, and cooking demos by celebrity chefs. This year Friday night's Grillin' and Chillin' is back and hosted by chef/festival partner Tim Love of Lonesome Dove Western Bistro.
"Austin is one of those towns that is so attractive to us because it has all of the things that we are passionate about - food, music, culture and history. We are excited to be a part of Austin Food + Wine this year and bring a little of our version of the South to the Southwest. We also just can't wait to meet chefs and restaurateurs from the area and, most importantly, eat their food," says Mashama Bailey and Johno Morisano of The Grey, Savannah, Georgia
The festival kicks off on April 23 with the Feast Under The Stars, an intimate outdoor dinner hosted by chef Kevin Fink and the Zero Foodprint Initiative, Bryce Gilmore of Barley Swine, and Trevor Moran of Locust, Nashville. Tickets are $250 per person and must be purchased separately from any festival ticket.
On Friday the Festival officially begins, with Grillin' and Chillin, a hands-on grilling dinner party. Guests are given the chance to sharpen their grilling skills as they join in for an event they'll never forget.
Saturday brings the opening of the festival grounds which include book signings, tastings and interactive grilling areas where chefs like John Bates and Sonya Coté cook over open fire pits.
When it comes to talented chefs, the Austin Food + Wine Festival has is covered. Rock Your Taco, Saturday evening's signature tasting event is an all-in taco competition pitting your favorite celebrity chefs against each other. Contenders include Aaron Sanchez, Anne Burrell, Jonathan Waxman, Tyson Cole, reigning champ Andrew Zimmern, and others.
Full Festival Line-up
Thursday, April 23
Feast Under the Stars
- Kevin Fink (Emmer & Rye)
- Bryce Gilmore (Odd Duck, Barley Swine)
- Trevor Moran (Locust in Nashville)
Saturday and Sunday, April 25 and 26
Fire Pits
- Simon Stallard (The Hidden Hut, Cornwall, UK)
- John Bates (InterStellar BBQ)
- Sonya Coté (Eden East, Hillside Farmacy)
- Andrew Wiseheart (Contigo)
Chef Showcases
- Aaron Anselmi (Olive & June)
- Tano Avila (Grizzelda's)
- Jeff Balfour (Southerleigh Fine Food & Brewery)
- Daniel Brooks (Licha's Cantina)
- Jeff Brown (Old Thousand)
- Pedro Carvalho (Hopfields)
- Jo Chan (Eberly)
- Ji Peng Chen (Wu Chow)
- Matthew Davis (Forthright)
- Jacob Euler (Le Vacher)
- Reed Faitak (Austin Daily Press)
- Brandon Fuller (Jacoby's Restaurant & Mercantile)
- Taylor Hall (Apis)
- Sarah Heard and Nathan Lemley (Foreign & Domestic)
- Victor Ibarra (Andiamo)
- C.J. Jacobson (Aba)
- Clinton Kendall (East Side King)
- Lance Kirkpatrick (Stiles Switch BBQ & Brew)
- Geronimo Lopez (Botika, San Antonio)
- Jason McVearry and Trisha Fortuna (Poke Poke)
- Margarita and Nestor Mendez (Pueblo Viejo)
- Josh Neises (Lonesome Dove Western Bistro)
- David Norman (Easy Tiger Bake Shop & Beer Garden)
- Daniel Olivella (Barlata Tapas Bar)
- Ling Qi Wu (Lin Asian Bar + Dim Sum)
- Rich Reimbolt (Better Half Coffee & Cocktails)
- Edgar Rico (Nixta Taqueria)
- Christopher Rios (The Vegan Nom)
- James Robert (Fixe)
- Ryan Samson (Vespaio)
- Christopher Schaefer (Geraldine's)
- Eric Silverstein (The Peached Tortilla)
- Carmen Valera (Tamale House East)
- Kevin Williamson (Ranch 616)
Saturday, April 25
Rock Your Taco
- Tatsu Aikawa (DipDipDip Tatsu-Ya)
- Mashama Bailey and Johno Morisano (The Grey; Savannah, GA)
- Anne Burrell (TV Personality, Chef, New York, NY)
- Tyson Cole (Hai Hospitality)
- Scott Conant (Mora Italian, Phoenix, AZ)
- Andrew Curren (ELM Restaurant Group)
- Jason Dady (Chispas)
- Diego Galicia and Rico Torres (Mixtli, San Antonio)
- Sarah Heard and Nathan Lemley (Foreign & Domestic)
- JJ Johnson (Field Trip; Harlem, NY)
- Tim Love (Lonesome Dove)
- Ryan Pera (Agricole Hospitality, Houston, TX)
- Aarón Sánchez (Johnny Sánchez, New Orleans, LA)
- Charles Schlienger (Sway)
- Philip Speer (Comedor)
- Andrew Zimmern (TV Personality, Chef, Minneapolis, MN)
Tickets
There are three ticket choices available:
The All-In ($625 per person)
The All-In includes Saturday and Sunday Festival access; interactive cooking demos & book signings; hands-on beer, wine and cocktail tasting sessions; wood-fired culinary creations from the Fire Pits; tastes from Austin's best chefs & restaurants; Friday night's Grillin' and Chillin' with Tim Love; Saturday night's signature Rock Your Taco competition; and more.
The Weekender ($250 per person)
The Weekender ticket includes Saturday and Sunday Festival access; interactive cooking demos & book signings; hands-on beer, wine and cocktail tasting sessions; wood-fired culinary creations from the Fire Pits; tastes from Austin's best chefs & restaurants; and more.
Feast Under the Stars ($250 per person)
Feast Under the Stars tickets provides access to the intimate outdoor pre-festival dinner celebration at Auditorium Shores. The family-style sustainable dinner, hosted in collaboration with chef Kevin Fink and the Zero Foodprint initiative in support of Austin's Zero Waste initiative, includes wine pairings and parking.
All attendees must be 21 years of age or older to enter the festival. Tickets may be purchased at www.austinfoodandwinefestival.com/tickets.
