Another year of the Austin Food and Wine Festival has come and gone and what a weekend it was! The Friday night wurst event may have been rained out, but the weather was gorgeous for the rest of the weekend’s activities.
Here are the best things we ate, drank and saw at Austin Food and Wine Festival!
Discover Puerto Rico
We kicked off the weekend with an event thrown by Discover Puerto Rico on Thursday night, but it was the short rib they served on Sunday that we loved the most.
H-E-B, Here Everything’s Better
Now, if you’re really into ribs, the Dino Rib from H-E-B is the rib for you! We couldn’t believe they were passing out these monstrosities at the fest – nor that people were eating the whole thing (and still had room for bites from other vendors).
Everything’s Bigger in Texas
H-E-B weren’t the only ones serving up food to fill your whole hand. Some people walked away from the Dallas based restaurant Catbird‘s tent with a full crab leg – in addition to the oysters they were serving up.
Sushi by Scratch VIP Pop-Up
Sushi by Scratch Restaurants is Chef Phillip Frankland Lee’s signature Omakase. Located in the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort & Spa, they usually offer a 17 course meal. For the fest, they hosted an exclusive four course serving to VIP attendees.
NADC Smash Burger
Also being offered in VIP was the Not a Damn Chance Burger. A collaboration between the aforementioned Lee and skateboarder Neen Williams, the burger features double smash beef patty from Texas ranch Iron Table Wagyu and seasoning from Williams’s spice company. Served with an intense amount of pickled jalapenos, you get all the flavor in every bite of this one-of-a-kind burger.
Dos Hombres Mezcal
You’d have to be living under a rock to not know that the men behind Dos Hombres were in Austin last week. “Breaking Bad” co-stars Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston made appearances at over a dozen spots promoting their mezcal brand, culminating in a chat and tasting at the festival.
Rock Your Taco
After a day of tasting on Saturday, the tents closed up shop and a Rock Your Taco event ensued. Highlighting 14 local chefs, attendees voted on their favorite taco of the night. Olamaie‘s “Southern Phoenix” taco took top prize. It includes panko breaded fried chicken, spicy chili oil, biscuit tortilla, and honey butter.
Louis Jadot Astrology Readings
The stars aligned for Maison Louis Jadot to take part in the wine portion of the festival. To celebrate being the #1 French red and white wine in the US, a local Austin astrologer was on hand to predict our perfect wine pairing. This was a fun and unexpected addition to the event!
Between all the food, drinks, freebies and, friends, there is much fun to be had at the Austin Food and Wine Festival. If you’ve never been, we highly recommend checking it out next year!
Looking for other festivals to try in the Austin area? Check out one of these!
Featured photo by Alison Narro for Austin Food and Wine Festival.
