Austin Food & Wine Festival 2019’s Chef Lineup Is Here

One of the city’s biggest food-related events, the Austin Food & Wine Festival, is coming back again this year for the eighth time, and the preliminary chef and event lineups are here. It takes place from Friday, April 26 through Sunday, April 28 at Auditorium Shores in South Austin.

New to this year’s festival is what is pegged as an “expanded fire pit experience” from chef Andrew Wiseheart and Contigo Catering. Further details on what that will entail aren’t known at this moment.

The rest of this year’s festival events remain the same: chef Tim Love’s grilling session will take place outside of the proper festival (much like last year, and only available through the all-in passes) on Friday, April 26.

Other auxiliary events include the usual Rock Your Taco competition, which takes place that Saturday at the Fair Market. It’s interesting to note that Andrew Zimmern is participating, especially after the controversy over his Midwest Chinese-American restaurant chain Lucky Cricket (he had apologized for his comments on Facebook later).

Then there’s the Sunday Gospel Brunch, and the family-style Feast Under the Stars dinner, which takes place before the festival on Thursday at Auditorium Shores.

Tickets prices are $250 for weekend passes, $250 for Feast Under the Stars, and $625 for the all-in passes (which include the Love grilling event and Rock Your Taco).

Thursday, April 25

Feast Under the Stars

• Michael Fojtasek (Olamaie)
• Kristen Kish (Arlo)
• Stephanie McClenny (Confituras Little Kitchen)
• Grae Nonas (Carpenters Hall)
• Nicholas Yanes (Juniper)

Saturday and Sunday, April 27 and 28

Fire Pits

• Sonya Cote Eden East, Hillside Farmacy)
• Lance Kirkpatrick (Stiles Switch BBQ &Brew)
• Evan LeRoy (LeRoy & Lewis)
• Wayne Mueller (Louie Mueller Barbecue)
• Andrew Wiseheart & Contigo Catering

Chef Showcases

• Jeff Balfour (Southerleigh Fine Food & Brewery)
• John Bates and Brandon Martinez (Noble Sandwich Co.)
• Stephen Bonin (Geraldine’s)
• Daniel Brooks (Licha’s Cantina)
• Jeff Brown (Old Thousand)
• Thomas Calhoun
• Jo Chan (Eberly)
• Ji Peng Chen (Wu Chow)
• James Cole (Jacoby’s Restaurant & Mercantile)
• Austin Ewald (Grizzelda’s)
• Alexandra Gates (Cochineal Marfa)
• Taylor Hall (Apis)
• Sarah Heard and Nathan Lemley (Foreign & Domestic)
• Ethan Holmes (Mattie’s)
• Clinton Kendall (East Side King)
• Lance Kirkpatrick (Stiles Switch BBQ & Brew)
• Geronimo Lopez (Botika)
• Jason McVearry and Trisha Fortuna (Poke Poke)
• Brian Moses (Olive & June)
• Ashley Neave (Forthright)
• Josh Neises (Lonesome Dove Western Bistro)
• Steve Nelson (Wild Kitchen + Bar)
• David Norman (Easy Tiger Bake Shop & Beer Garden)
• Daniel Olivella (Barlata Tapas Bar)
• Ling Qi Wu (Lin Asian Bar + Dim Sum)
• Sterling Ridings (Guild)
• Maribel Rivero (Yuyo)
• James Robert (Fixe)
• Ryan Samson (Vespaio)
• Charles Schlienger (Sway)
• Eric Silverstein (The Peached Tortilla)
• Anthony Sobotik (Lick Honest Ice Creams)
• Lakana Sopajan-Trubiana (Dee Dee)
• Carmen Valera (Tamale House East)
• Kevin Williamson (Ranch 616)

Saturday, April 27

Rock Your Taco

• Tatsu Aikawa and Takuya Matsumoto (Ramen Tatsu-Ya, Kemuri Tatsu-Ya)
• Tyson Cole (Hai Hospitality)
• Andrew Curren (ELM Restaurant Group)
• Jason Dady (Jason Dady Restaurant Group)
• Tiffani Faison (Big Heart Hospitality)
• Sarah Grueneberg (Monteverde)
• Antonia Lofaso (DAMA, Scopa Italian Roots, Black Market Liquor Bar)
• Tim Love
• Fermín Núñez (Suerte)
• Aarón Sánchez (Johnny Sánchez)
• Chris Shepherd and Nick Wong (UB Preserv)
• Nancy Silverton (Mozza Restaurant Group)
• Max Snyder (Pitchfork Pretty)
• Jonathan Waxman (Barbuto, Jams, Brezza Cucina, Adele’s)
• Andrew Zimmern (TV Personality, Lucky Cricket)

• Everything You Need to Know About the Austin Food & Wine Festival 2018 [EATX]