It’s that time of year again! Since the more intimate Austin Wine and Food Fest has gone “Hollywood” or more accurately “New York” the only smaller Austin-centric event is Live Fire. Usually it is held the Thursday before the festival but this year it will be the week before on April 17. So come out to see the city’s best heat things up.
Thursday- Live Fire at the Salt Lick then Dessert Dinner at Trace by Pichet Ong
Friday- Secret Dessert Party at Hotel St Cecilia
Sunday- More Morimoto
It took me awhile but I think I am finally recovered from the bacchanalia that came to Austin at the end of April. The inaugural Austin Wine and Food Fest had a few logistical issues like high winds that led to a film of dust that covered everyone and everything and timing for the demos could have been better. But for the most part, it was a success. I was proud to play a role at the fest as the lead in charge of volunteer checkin. I also serve with the Austin Food Bloggers Alliance as Volunteer Coordinator which led to the opportunity. So I spent a good portion of the actual fest at Auditorium Shores working instead of drinking and eating as much as I would have liked to. Fortunately, there were several periphery events before that I was able to enjoy. Plus it was fun to have a behind the scenes view of the first year. It will be interesting to see how they adjust going forward.
Now for my food porn. First up was the fantastic dinner that Columbus Salame sponsored at the Carillon. Columbus is an artisan salame maker out of San Francisco that makes truly stellar handcrafted meats. Each of the courses included some of their product. As always, Josh Watkins and Plinio Sandalio gave me mouthgasms with their delicious dishes. You can find Columbus locally at Central Market and Antonelli’s.
Stay tuned for Part 2. Dessert dinner, Live Fire meat and pie, secret dessert party, and more Morimoto.
The beloved Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival has now become the Austin Wine and Food Festival. April 27-29, 2012 marks the beginning of a new era for the Austin food scene. Food and Wine Magazine is teaming up with C3 Entertainment to showcase big name national chef stars like Masaharu Morimoto, Marcus Samuelsson, and Andrew Zimmern alongside Austin luminaries like Tyson Cole, Paul Qui, Bryce Gilmore, and Aaron Franklin. The idea is to make a destination festival along the lines of the South Beach or Aspen festivals. How will the Austin chefs stack up? Will the Austin foodie community support a fest that comes with a $250 minimum price tag? How will the festival organizers deal with unforeseen issues that are bound to come up with a new huge event? I cannot wait to find out.
