Love good food? Appreciate plated masterpieces and epicurean brilliance that brinks on other-worldly?
Then the Austin Food + Wine Festival is for you. This indulgent event returns to Auditorium Shores and Republic Square Park, April 22–24, with global culinary kings bringing their talent to the table.
Indulge in artisanal food, wine, beer and spirits from hundreds of purveyors. Attend interactive demos and tasting sessions, mingle with chefs and learn kitchen secrets, feast under the stars and party into the night Austin-style.
The Austin Food + Wine Festival brings out the biggest names in the industry. Here are three local chefs to watch for.
1. Rick Lopez of La Condesa
Culinary Resume: Lopez hails from Texas, but his love affair with the kitchen has taken him far and wide. From Maine to San Antonio and back east to NYC, he has worked under James Beard ‘Rising Star Chef’ Gavin Kaysen, Terrance Brennan of Picholine and Ed Brown of 81 on the Upper West Side.
Back in his home state, Lopez shines as Executive Chef at James Beard Foundation Award-nominated La Condesa, a popular modern Mexican spot in downtown Austin known for its innovative takes on Mexican street food.
2. Sonya Cotê of Eden East and Hillside Farmacy
Culinary Resume: Cotê was named one of The Daily Meal’s “Top 10 Badass Women Chefs in America.” She founded a catering company that expertly matched cuisine with artwork at the Dallas Contemporary Art Museum and has served as executive chef for the Hoffman Haus and The Natural Palette Cooking School in Fredericksburg. She also ran the kitchen at Austin’s East Side Show Room.
Now she’s sharing her love of locally grown and raised ingredients at artisanal eatery and specialty grocery store Hillside Farmacy, and farm-to-table trailblazer Eden East.
3. Melissa Moss of Lenoir
Culinary Resume: Chef de cuisine at Lenoir, Moss moved to Austin in 2010 after graduating college in North Carolina. She attended the Texas Culinary Academy and has trained under a handful of celebrated local chefs over the past six years.
Moss spends her days coming up with fantastically creative three-course prix-fixe menus sourced almost exclusively from Texas’ community of farmers and food artisans. Her menus change with the Texas seasons and Moss tends to focus on “honest cooking,” where simple and local food is top priority.
Find Them at the Fest: These three Austin chefs and restaurateurs (and many others) will be cooking at the Chef Showcase event in the Grand Tasting Tents on the grounds of Auditorium Shores on Saturday and Sunday. The showcase is a signature Austin Food + Wine event where guests taste and sip their way through the country’s top culinary exhibitors.
Get your tickets and explore creations by more than 40 food artisans.
Can’t make it to the festival this year? Be sure to check out La Condesa, Eden East, Hillside Farmacy and Lenoir next time you’re in town.
Photo courtesy of Austin Food + Wine Festival.
