A Look Back at the 2015 Austin Food and Wine Festival

As this year’s Austin Food and Wine Festival comes to an end, there were certainly some great changes made to the layout of the festival. The addition of more fire pits and more spacious layout of the tasting tents made for a smoother and more accessible experience. 

 A beautiful morsel from Chef Kocurek of Counter3fiveVII.

The addition of more restaurants from the Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio areas was a great move for veteran festival attendees. Let’s take a look back at some highlights from this year. 

Hendrick’s Gin did it again. Not only did that bring that behemoth of a negroni maker (above), they brought the gin hike complete with a punchbowl side car.

Here’s Fred Parent serving up a ginny-punch while on the bike. That’s pretty awesome. 

Best necklace at the festival was this necklace of pork hocks. It is better than my koozie on a lanyard.

Most stylish apron goes to Chef Kocurek of Counter3fiveVII. I love the bold look of leather and hardware paired with the neutral cloth. It reminds me of hanging out with horses, which is pretty awesome. Here he is hanging out with Kristi Willis.

Most awesome cake goes to Walton’s Fancy and Staple. While I didn’t get to eat this cake, it was certainly a head turner. 

Tastiest cake I actually got to eat goes to the avocado cheesecake from Corner Bar located in the JW Marriott downtown. The rich and creamy cake on a tart and eye catching berry sauce was a little piece of spring on a plate.

A little piece of nostalgia shout out goes to Qui for their grilled pineapple shaved ice - the snow version. This reminds me of my childhood Summers. Shaved ice on a humid day, and bike riding into the sunset. Minus the bike at the festival of course. 

And here's Jorge Hernandez of Qui shaving ice. Old World Style.

Three of Austin's shiny stars at the Austin Food and Wine Festival. From left to right, Chefs Page Pressley, Frank Mnuk, and Andrew Lewis. You can visit this handsome crew outside of the festival at St. Philip Pizza Parlor and Bakeshop. Don’t forget to get the Japanese cheesecake in the bakeshop.

The obligatory meat on a stick photo by Chef Shawn Cirkel. No festival in Texas is complete without things on a stick - topped with puffed mustard seeds is optional. These meaty morsels with pop spicy mustard were the perfect bite while enjoying a lovely cocktail and warm day.

Going the whole hog with Jack Allen’s Kitchen is turning into one of my favorites at the festival. This is another Texas thing - whole animals on a stick.

The fantastic display of knife work goes to Wu Chow for their amazing watermelon. Making pretty things out of fruit never ceases to amaze me. Whoever carved this baby has some serious brain surgery precision.

No festival is completely with a little bloody mary for your hangover needs. Luckily for us, Delysia made some sweet bloody mary truffles. That wraps up a pretty awesome Austin Food and Wine Festival.

Qui-pping is real, Qui Austin at the @AustinFoodWine Festival

Our hometown hero, Paul Qui, Top Chef Winner, and overall cool dude, is working hard on opening his new restaurant, Qui Austin.  Punny enough, he gave a presentation at the Austin Food and Wine Festival called Qui Ingredients.  For the presentation, he talked cheese.  And more cheese.  And how to make a fondue with really expensive cheese. 

Items to eat with the fondue.

Chef Tim Dornon is at the stove, starting the fondue made with a mushroom broth base. 

This is an awesome photo.  Chef Tim's glasses are fogged up.

Chef Paul talks about his inspiration for dishes. When asked what he always has in the kitchen, Chef Paul answered: citrus, fats, and vinegars.  With those three ingredients, just throw in some salt and textures and you have the makings of a tasty dish. 

Paul Kiry from Antonelli's Cheese says "Then there was CHEESE!"

The team chilling out at the Taste of Texas event on Friday night. The prepared an amazing kimchi grilled brie sandwich with apples.

Austin Food Keeps Going After the Festival: Chef Angela Majko on CHOPPED tonight

It is the Tuesday after the Austin Food and Wine Festival, and it was a pretty amazing weekend.  I'm still sailing by on the endorphin and adrenaline rushes facilitated by the camaraderie of the Austin food community and newly forged friendships with chefs and food lovers from other cities. While that is over, tonight is still a very special for another local chef, Angela Majko.  Angela is a sushi chef at Uchiko, and she'll be on CHOPPED tonight!  If you're available, swing by the viewing party at Draught House, 9:00 pm tonight, Tuesday, April 30th, 2013.   Food trailer Oyama by alumni of Uchiko will be on site serving Japanese/Mexican fusion cuisine.  The episode will be projected on a big screen and Chef Majko will be in attendance. Draught House is located at 4115 Medical Parkway, Austin, TX 78756.

Below are some fun panorama photos from this past week.  More blog posts to follow. 

My view as a #CityWide86d judge at Uchiko Austin.  I felt like a zoo animal.  Everyone kept watching me and taking photos of my plate.  Chef Jeremy is to my right. 

This was my view at the start of the Taste of Texas evening event of the Austin Food and Wine Festival. 

The grills at the Tim Love meaty love event.  It really isn't called meaty love, but I like the name.

The growing crowd waiting to come into Chef Paul Qui's demonstration at the Austin Food and Wine Festival.