Austin Food & Wine Festival

Was a great time and a lot of fun. The grilling session with Tim Love is not to be missed! There were a ton of great restaurants and wineries on hand to provide the best of what they embody. We are looking forward to going back next year and checking out some of the restaurants that we have not been to before that served some amazing food.

It’s amazing to me that Austin Food and Wine Festival doesn’t have glowing reviews. For four years running, the festival has managed to bring together foodies from near and far to sample both local and national businesses. It is an incredible event!

This is for 2015. We had a great time. Yes, the price was steep, but it was still a blast.
This was our first year going. Man oh man, the amount of booze here is crazy. Ok let’s get down the the review.
Tip: DON’T TIGHTEN YOUR BRACELET SO THAT YOU CAN’T GET IT OFF YOUR WRIST. It won’t loosen and after showering on Saturday night I had to get into bed with this cold wet piece of fabric.
Cons:
–Price. Yes, quite high.
–Cooking for 1000 is super hard. No one’s dish was anything that stopped time.
–Drunk inconsiderate people butting in line
–How long the line is in the morning to get in
Pros:
–Was very interesting to see the people we watch on TV in real life and what they really are like as human beings. Their isms, their reactions, their true personality.
–Trying lots and lots of variety: wine, alcohol, food, coffee, iced tea, etc, etc.
–People watching… wow!
–Andrew Zimmern and Graham Elliott cook-​off challenge.
We sat in on several feature chef tents: Jonathan Waxman, Andrew Zimmern and Graham Elliot had a mystery challenge, Richard Blais, Tyson Cole. They were fun but honestly, I learned very little.
My wife was disappointed that there wasn’t more diversity in the foods (ethnic)-no Indian, one Italian, one Chinese, no spoon of Phở, etc. Largely, it’s tacos and BBQ which in and of itself, is not a bad thing at all, but…
We did experience an interesting thing were some restaurants that we have never eaten at, we ate at their stalls and the food was not good and we said to ourselves, «we’ll, let’s not waste the time to go to their restaurant.» Then we ate at the Bufalina (which we love, love, love) stall and their bite was terrible and we learned not to judge the bites. Which made things very confusing because we didn’t learn this lesson until Sunday afternoon and trying to reconcile everything, after 53 small glasses of wine, was very hard.
We had a blast but we’re not sure we’re gonna do both days next year. By the time we factored in babysitter, parking, etc, this was a $ 750 weekend. I think I would rather go to Qui, Uchi, & 3 Forks for that.

I had the highest hopes for this festival and was really looking forward to it. It was a huge disappointment. Half the vendors ran out of food both days. None of the restaurants you would expect to be there were — no Uchi, Contigo, Qui, etc. They had mainly Texas wine and ran out early both days. It was on a concrete pavement. Some of the vendors present were HEB, offering HEB brand chips and hot sauce, to give you an idea what your $ 250 gets you. I expected more, especially after a bigger name had taken over the festival and knows how to throw these. I won’t be going back.

The first thing you need to know about the Austin Food & Wine Festival is that, if you went in one of the prior two years, but did not attend this year — then you MUST return in 2015 to find out what they’re now doing so, so right.
(I’m going to add now that Courtney B. brought to my attention:
). #9
The Taste Pass is perfect. For the $ 250.00 price point, I felt fully satisfied that I ate and drank and experienced my dollar’s worth in every way.
As you walked in this year, you were handed a fan, a program, your tasting glass. You first passed the army of grills where Tim Love kicked off each day with his interactive cooking class. The line for that sucker started at least an hour before the event kicked off, but wine was already flowing and people didn’t seem to mind. We weren’t able to corral ourselves in the mornings well enough to attend, but next year, I won’t miss a class if it’s repeated.
In the center of the main arena of the park were the grill stations with the likes of Jack Allen and Franklin’s. Jack Allen’s area was a sight to behold — with a merry-​go-​round of sheeps’ heads and whole chickens slow roasting, next to a tree of quail (I kid you not — quail skewered onto an actual tree) It was so archaic and beautiful and delicious. and Aaron Franklin is beyond kind and personable — And, unfortunately I now have to say… Open your arms, Franklin’s Cult, and let me in. For years, based on principle I refused to even consider the idea of liking this joint or being willing to tailgate for three hours for some cult meat. But now that I’ve had it right off the pit, sliced and handed to me by Franklin, himself, instead of catered to work, now I understand what beauty I’ve been missing.
The first cooking presentation I viewed was Richard Blais on Saturday and I must say he was phenomenally entertaining and personable. I bought his cookbook and got a signature… only to find out that Andrew Zimmern was on the other side of the book signing.
I had to meet him. So I promptly popped over there… But with nothing for him to sign, I offered my shoulder instead. Which turned out to be a huge hit, even instigating some snark on Twitter once I tweeted it to him (@annescott620 if you want to check it out!). This tidbit made my entire day for me. I’ve been such a huge fan of Zimmern’s show Bizarre Foods for a very long time. And even though he has choice words and a terse opinion of Unilocalers, I adore him just the same and always suspected he was a damn fun guy to hang out with. This festival made a bigger fan in me of the show, and also of food in general.
That’s the whole point of bringing these celebrity chefs in. That’s the whole point of splurging a bit to get access to something like this: When you meet these folks whose passion and dedication for food surpass most others, with the culture they’ve experienced and the richness they have to offer to the culinary world, getting to be a part of it and get a taste of that, humanizing the celebs and putting elevated food within reach — that’s an experience I“ll try to repeat as many times as I can.
Other big hitters I had the pleasure of meeting: Ming Tsai — I’m not sure you can tell from his show, Simply Ming, how incredibly funny he his, but he had the crowd in stitches during his presentation. I was lucky enough to get to go up and sample the dish he made — another lucky lady got to partake in a cucumber sake martini with him!
Graham Elliot was very sweet and down to Earth. Tim Love was waaaaay too busy for any of it. I tried to get his attention multiple times for an autograph or a photo, but he was very elusive. Until the end when I was able to snap him with my sister in law and get her an autograph as well finally.
I didn’t get to meet Bryce Gilmore… but I’m pretty sure I know where to run into him in Austin.
So — those were the impressive names I was pleased to meet and greet. That roster alone made this event fabulous in my eyes.
But then you enter the Grand Tasting Tent.
And you drink so much wine you forget your name.
And you eat so many samples, you forget your mom’s name.
My dear friend, Brendan, owner of Third Base Austin, Barcelona and Mighty Bird was present showing off the culinary styles of his new Austin restaurant Fork & Vine. Their roasted beet salad (in the pictures) was incredible. And on Sunday — it was the only sample they offered. Ballsy, my friend. Ballsy. And well played.
We sampled some amazing wines, some amazing foods. We danced to the Wobble at the end with a huge crowd of strangers. We basked and mingled with culinary Goliaths and we all went home drunk, in a cab, and happy. This was about dedication to amazing food, life, friends and fine-​tuned culinary craft.
And to top it all off… the bathrooms are in air conditioned trailers with wood floors, two sinks and a full length mirror. Um. Well done

I had a great time at the 2014 Food and Wine Fest. Yes, it’s expensive, but once you accept the cost, the actual event is a lot of fun and is pretty well run. The lines weren’t bad at all, and the most i waited for any vendor was maybe 10 minutes for Paul Qui, and for the Green Egg Pizza on Saturday, with 90% of the food being in the Grand Tasting Tent, with next to no lines at all for getting food samples.
The Wine was mostly consolidated in the tent as well and there were quite a few wineries on hand most with many different varieties. I didn’t see a single pinot grigio which was odd though, but there were tons of chardonnays, sauvignon blancs, and cabernets.
The only tent or demo area that I saw that had a huge line was the Grilling area where I think everybody gets their own grill and learns hands on…
We went to 3 cooking demos from Andrew Zimmern, Richard Blais, & Ming Tsai, and had no trouble getting seats when we got there no more than 5 – 15 minutes before they began, although they did all fill up. All were very entertaining, and were a lot of fun. A great event that seems to be getting better reviews in recent years, and with a better spot in Bulter Park than Auditorium Shores.

The Food and Wine Festival offers a tantalizing array of chef’s, wine, and food in an open format that also is fun and educational. The problem with F&WF is the format from C3 Presents. The tents are not large enough to accommodate the crowds. Even if you get in line for an event 30 – 45 minutes prior to the start of an event in a tent, it is very possible you may not get a seat, and YOU PAID $ 250 for this!

Haven’t seen any updates yet for the second year of this festival so I felt the need to update based on the fact that Austin Food and Wine Festival is massively improved from last year.
First off props to whoever decided to move the festival to Butler Park. Butler Park has grass meaning that you aren’t eating dirt and grime and God-​knows-​what-​else in your food and drink. This detail alone was a huge improvement.
There was more food and drink this year to enjoy. Many of the tents that had demonstrations had tasting tables set up so that you could interact with the chef, including asking them questions. One of my favorite tasting tents was Bill Norris’s mixed drink tent. He gave us a couple of different cocktails that were pre-​mixed to sample, and we also got to taste samples of various mixed cocktail ingredients to fully understand how they work in the cocktail world. Nice job Bill! Hope you do another one next year.
The tasting tent opened at noon each day. This tent was bigger and better than last year. Tons and tons of various wineries to sample wines from, along with liquor and lots of great food and desserts like chocolate. If you tried to sample all of the alcohol you would be smashed so be careful and pace yourself! This is a wonderful way to meet wineries and niche food companies. Stella beer was back giving out their signature glass beer mugs and there were other trinkets you could collect from other vendors that come in handy in the kitchen.
In addition to the various speaking engagements and samples they had going on at various times they also had a massive fire pit set up in the center of the grounds where they were giving out samples of roasted meats throughout the day. My favorite of the roasted meats (and this was hard to pick) was Rene Ortiz’s lamb. It was incredible. Close second would be Bryce and Jack Gilmore’s pork. The smells coming from the meat cooking on the open pits were really great and it was cool to watch them slice and dice the meat right from the pit. Grilling seems to be an important theme at this festival. The front of the grounds had a massive grilling demonstration area set up that was popular.
Bookpeople was back again this year with a signing tent. This is a great way to meet your favorite chef, snap a photo with them and get one of their cookbooks signed. Bookpeople was selling the various cookbooks on site.
The cost of this festival is still pricey at $ 250 for a 2 day pass which breaks down to $ 125 a day (you cannot at this time buy individual day passes). You also get a 1 year subscription to Food and Wine Magazine. If they raise the cost I may not go back. But I feel like at this cost the festival is worth it just to get to learn new stuff, meet cool chefs and like minded foodies and try new wines and other things you wouldn’t normally try. There is a VIP option that runs a whopping $ 850 that includes evening food tastings and concerts. I’ve heard that it is a good time but at that price point VIP is way more than what I or most people would want to pay, which is probably precisely why they set it up that way. C3 still runs this festival though they took their branding away from it as compared to last year.
A couple of small complaints: Badge pick up (if you bought your badge within the last 2 weeks before the festival) was at the Four Seasons Hotel in a room up on the 4^th floor. They need to move that on site to the festival grounds. Also, Palmer Events Center was the main parking (cost: $ 7) but filled up early on Sunday before the festival even started.

I attended the 2012 festival and have to agree with all the negative reviews. Everyone is touching on all the issues that made last years festival a disaster unless you paid the VIP ticket price. We had NO food (except food trucks for cash purchase) until the «grand tasting» event at about 1pm so don’t go hungry!!! Oh and until the grand tasting you just wandered around trying to catch glimpses of demonstrations you couldn’t get into while being pelted with dirt and dust from the wind. There was no music or any other kind of entertainment to take your mind off the fact that you couldn’t eat and couldn’t get into any of the demonstrations and you spent a lot of money to do it. I could go on and on but I won’t. It was a miserable experience that we had the pleasure of paying $ 500 for and wouldn’t attend this year even if we had free tickets!

I was perusing through my most recent copy of Food and Wine magazine when lo and behold, there was a promotional ad for the 2013 Austin Food & Wine Festival. Even though its been almost a year since the last event, my blood started boiling a little bit at the memory of the biggest waste of $ 500 I’ve EVER spent in my life. I can still feel the deep remorse of being hoodwinked 11 months later! The only positive reviews left here are from uninformed people who didn’t even attend the event, or perhaps got comped passes, so they have not been beguiled. I won’t go into too much detail as the other reviews from equally deceived 2012 AF&W attendees pretty much hit the nail on the head.
In the end I knew that I had been duped for thinking I’d actually get to witness them cooking live and in person and then get to taste their food. Instead we were treated to uninspired food from restaurants I’ve already visited here and snarky staff volunteers all whilst being covered in a fine layer of dirt from the dust bowl that is auditorium shores. I would have thought for sure that they would have planned that a bit better. We minions that didn’t waste our money on VIP tickets were forced to sip warm wine and beer while we scrambled for a few bits of shade in between demonstrations. Oh right, we didn’t actually get to SEE any demonstrations as we only waited in line for 30 minutes to be turned away while those with VIP seats or the patient ones who waited an hour for seats got in.
One of my friends from my former life in local radio offered me her VIP tix for the Sunday event as she was just as unimpressed (but luckily her passes were free). I was so aghast about the train wreck I had just witnessed that I kindly declined her offer and did not return the following day. Fool me once, but never twice!
On a final note, I found a list of things on my iphone I noted on April 28, 2012 that I could have bought for $ 500 each and still be enjoying today:
A Tory Burch Dress
An ipad
A plane ticket to Napa
A Pug puppy
A night at the Four Seasons for a relaxing stay-​cation
A few All Clad Pans
2 Shun knives
Oh the list goes on… So to this year’s attendees I say, «Have fun with all that!» You have been warned…

Here’s the thing about Austin Food & Wine Fest 2012. It was a great event if you didn’t have to pay for it, especially if you were comped a VIP badge like almost everyone related to the media was which explains the many positive blog postings and articles.
If you did have to pay for it, this is what you got:
— Lots of standing in line in hopes of seeing the demos you were promised.
— Lots of getting turned away from the demos you wanted to see right before they started since they ran out of space so you had to rush to find a different demo that still had space available.
— Nice wine tasting setup, yet so much dust blowing into the wine that it was commented on numerous times by the speakers
— No live music unless you pay for the $ 850 pass
— Very, very little food. Seriously. The demos (saving a few) had no food samples, you just got to watch the chef make something. The «grand tasting» turned out to mostly revolve around alcohol and small cracker/​deli meat combos. My group left these tastings still hungry, so you had to resort to buying food at one of the three food trucks that had huge lines.
— Hardly any local restaurants at the Grand Tasting. Apparently the event charges quite a high fee to the restaurants in order to give away free food to patrons already paying a high fee, so many couldn’t afford it.
— Hot and packed in the «Grand Tasting». Felt like a cattle call, not a high class foodie event.
— The outdoor venue didn’t do anything for this event except add lots of problems with dust and heat.
— No coffee available in the morning. You couldn’t even buy any, so be properly caffeinated upon arrival.
Almost all of the other local food tasting events are run better than this and are much cheaper including the event this one replaced. The celebrity chef demos weren’t very educational. They were more about personalities and promoting said chef.
I seriously hope things improve next year, but I wouldn’t recommend anyone spend hard earned money on this unless they can go full hog and buy the $ 850 pass. That’s not a good value, but if you’ve got money to burn, it will at least give you enough access to enjoy the event.
$ 500 (two $ 250 passes) would buy you serveral very nice dinners in Austin plus a whole shelf of cookbooks and a couple of high end bottles of wine to drink while you read from them. In the end, if you take this route you’ll eat better, you’ll drink better, and you’ll learn more all in comfort.

Austin’s Food and Wine Fest is one of the cooler foodie festivals out there. First of all, it’s in Austin, which automatically give it some serious cred. Second, the food is some of the best around — they attract a ton of high-​end chefs. Annnnd there’s alcohol. Food, booze, cool city — what more could you ask for?
I saw from other reviews that the price kind of got to people… I guess it can seem a little pricey when you’re buying your ticket, but it’s definitely worth it. I personally like that the price prevents high schoolers with fake ID’s from running around like crazy people ruining the scene.
The team behind this event is incredible and I’m sure the 2013 festival will be even better than last year’s. My friends and I are so excited to eat, drink, and *be merry* for a weekend!

I love attending this Festival! This is a must see and try according to me and my wife! Not sure why everyone is also complaining about the price also. I am used to paying this kind of price at a food and wine event with admission and cost of food etc. Now paying for airfare well that is another story but it is not the Austin Food and Wine Festival’s fault for that…
Now I am used to ripping restaurants and hotels on Unilocal for not getting my moneys worth. I do not feel this way at all after attending this event. I am already gearing up for 2013.

I’m extremely excited about the 2013 Austin Food & Wine Festival. I can see that the group putting on the event each year puts a ton of time and energy into the planning and preparation for it.
I also absolutely love that this event is in Austin. My wife loves the city and spending time there which makes the festival that much more enjoyable for us.
I’ve seen a few people here on Unilocal complaining about the price, but when you campare it to a day of entertainment at other events or activities it’s really not bad at all.
I can’t wait for them to release to the 2013 schedule so I can see where I’ll be spending my time at the event!

YEAH! What everyone else said!
…seriously, don’t waste your money. I never thought that I would spend $ 500 for my wife and I to waste ½ a day in line and the other ½ a day competing for morsels.
Give this crew another couple of years to figure this thing out before spending your money. Instead, you should head over to one of the world class Austin restaurants and buy you and your significant other an amazing meal.

If I could give it –1 stars I would. The only reason to maybe give it one star is that I won my pass and wasn’t out $ 250. I feel really bad for the people who paid.
Everyone here has very accurately described the event and the problems. About the only things I can add are:
Make the demo tents/​area bigger. These were the small tents. Why couldn’t they be double in size? Add a couple more TV monitors and it allows more room.
VIP reserved seating in the demos. This was ridiculous. They not only allowed VIP’s to reserve spaces in classes ahead of time, but they held 6 rows of about 15 chairs in all of the demo areas. (Give or take). Then when they decided that they could allow more people in, they sat them in those rows. Meaning that little old me who had waited in line for 1 hour, didn’t get a better seat.
Your camera coverage during the demo was very poorly done. Not only could I not see the mirror above the cooking station but your camera guy was in the way of what I could see! I basically looked at his butt the entire time during Morimoto’s demo. I would’ve watched the monitor but the screen placement and resolution made it very hard to watch. Anyhow, I can look at people’s butts for free and put in an episode of Iron Chef.
I ended up seeing 3 demos. Of them, 1 I just went to because I couldn’t get in anywhere else.
The tastings were dominated by wine/​spirit distributors. With some actual vineyards/​wineries/​spirit makers thrown in between. Again, a trip to Specs would’ve got me the same thing.
I was able to sample everything during the tastings but was disappointed that it was the same food for each tasting. So day 1 had 2 tastings… of exactly the same thing and day 3… yep, same stuff. There were only a few vendors who made different items, HEB was one of them.
So to say that this was a disappointment would be a huge understatement. I don’t care that it was their first year. Food & Wine magazine and C3 are not start up companies. C3 does a terrible job with ACL anyway.
The Stars Across Texas event from the other wine festival was 1,000 times better. If you’ve never been they had about 40? 50? vendors of food, wine and spirits at the Long Center. There were well known chefs from our middle to high end restaurants. The bites were delicious, not chintzy (many were steak based) and you had very little wait time. There was only one booth that had a wait and it was due to the nature of the food they made… it took longer to cook.
I wont go back to this festival and I encourage you to save your money and head to Spec’s.

The complaints of others are spot on.
As a matter of background, the Austin Food & Wine Festival (AF&WF) bought out the 26-​year running Texas Hill Country Wine & Food festival (THCW&FF) in an attempt to «raise the bar» and make Austin more like Aspen. They charged C3 (the folks that put on ACL) with running this event.
1 — We are not Aspen.
2 — The THCW&FF was an excellent well attended festival that allowed folks to pick and choose the events they wanted to attend and purchase accordingly.
AF&WF: If you purchased a Weekender pass for $ 250, you were promised:
* 35+ Cooking Demos & Wine Seminars
* Saturday & Sunday Grand Tastings (complimentary tastings from over 80 wine, spirit and food artisans)
* Weekender Lounge Access
* 1-​Year FOOD & WINE® Magazine Subscription (US Only)
In reality, the Weekender Pass got you:
— An opportunity to attend up to 5 cooking demos or wine/​spirits seminars if you were lucky enough to get in. Based on the schedule, the 35+ the demos/​seminars ran concurrently, so max you could get into were 5 sessions. They had no room at most of these sessions.
— Saturday & Sunday Grand Tastings (complimentary tastings from over 80 wine, spirit and food artisans). They had three of these over the weekend and each were open 1−½ to 1−¾ hours each time (total of 5 hours in 2 days). It was the same vendors all 3x. They were too crowded, booze heavy, lacking in food, and hotter than Satan inside the tents. You were kicked out at the end of the time slot. So if you spent the time here instead of standing in line for another session, you were out of luck getting into that session.
— Weekender Lounge Access — (enjoy additional tastings and kick up your feet between classes). These were chairs under a small tent near a bar and food trailers. You could purchase food and get free lukewarm dusty beverages from a less than enthusiastic bar staff. They were pouring the glasses and lining them up for folks to take, so many were warm and had dirt in them.
— 1-​Year FOOD & WINE® Magazine Subscription (US Only). Okeedokee!
Net net — $ 250 got you a maximum of 5 hours in hot dusty tents getting drunk, because there was little food to soak it up and if you were not fortunate enough to get into a session — you could spend the rest of your time sitting in a chair (if there was one free) in a dust bowl drinking lukewarm wine/​beer and paying for food until your next failed attempt to go to another session.
I looked up last year’s THCW&FF schedule to do a compare on what I could get for $ 250 (
)
If we had the THCW&FF, my $ 250 could have purchased:
— The Stars of Texas evening event for $ 100 which was 3 hours long
— The Sunday Fair for $ 45 which was 4 hours long
— 2 – 3 additional sessions ranging from $ 35 — $ 75 each (1.5 to 3 hours each depending on session)
A better value for the money IMHO and guaranteed access to sessions.
AF&WF VIP Access — Here is what was advertised:
If you were VIP and shelled out $ 850, you were promised:
* Reserved Access to 40+ Cooking Demos & Wine Seminars
* Preferred Seating at All Events
* Saturday & Sunday Private Grand Tastings
* New Taste of Texas Kickoff Event w/​Lucinda Williams
* Saturday Rock Your Taco Celebrity Chef Showdown w/​Mayer Hawthorne & The County
* VIP Lounge Access
* Reserved Auditorium Shores VIP Parking
* 2-​Year FOOD & WINE® Magazine Subscription (US Only)
For an extra $ 600, in addition to the Weekender pass perks, AF&WF VIPs received:
— access to two great evening events where the «celebrity chefs» were more accessible that included live music (novel concept they should apply to the rest of the festival)
— priority seating at ALL cooking demos (likely the most valuable perk)
— access into the Grand Tasting 45 minutes early (not a private tasting, just shorter lines and more elbow room)
— free parking
— an extra year of FOOD & WINE® Magazine
— access to a VIP lounge which was chairs under another tent in a gated off area from the unwashed masses with a bar and free food samples.
How does this compare to the THCW&FF? I built a schedule from last year’s festival, made sure there was no time slot missed from what was offered. On the events that ran concurrently, I picked the most expensive. Last year’s festival you could have done like a high roller for $ 735 without a 2 year subscription to FOOD & WINE ® Magazine. AND, you did not have to endure the barren wasteland and dust bowl that Auditorium Shores dog park resembled for the AF&WF. All they were missing was the tumbleweeds.
They get one star for having REAL bathrooms albeit, not enough of them.
The best part of the weekend was the company I was with, and the friends I ran into.
C3 should stick to music festivals. My observations on their branching out to food and spirits is an epic FAIL!

Pros: there was a lot of free booze within easy reach, more than I could drink.
Cons: almost everything else.
We went to two demos, one of which I immediately forgot. The second was Morimoto, and while he is an impressive person, I do feel that he was phoning it in.
The grand tastings were packed but most food and drinks were within easy reach. I was disappointed with the actual content of the tastings, though. I had expected to be able to taste the food that was being prepared by the celebrity chefs in their demos, but instead it was food from mostly local restaurants and shops, and frankly I wouldn’t have paid $ 125/​person-​day for that.

The F&W festival was a total disappointment. The venue was dusty and poorly planned. The tasting tents was HOT and over crowded. My wife and I sampled 4 wine tasting and 5 appetizers (so to speak). For $ 500 in ticket cost I could have had an excellent sit down dinner at David Bulls Congress restaurant.
Adding insult to injury, we could not see Dave Bulls, Morimoto, or Tyson coles demo since they were mostly reserved for VIP ticket holders. If they would have informed ticket buyers on the website prior I would not have even bought tickets. This is very deceptive by the planners of the festival. Net we will not be recommending or participating in future events. I would rather donate my money to charity than throwing it away at a «want to be» F&W festival.

Let me just say the highlight of spending $ 500 for my husband and I to attend this event was getting Morimoto to sign a cookbook for one of my husband’s close friend. Morimoto seems like a genuine nice guy with a lot of talent. I love to eat so this seemed to be the perfect occasion to splurge.
The festival was well organized, with everything running smoothly; however, the festival did not meet my expectations.
Let me just say, for the exorbitant price, I expected a few things.
1-​watch demos from celebrity chefs I admire
2-​eat tasty food and drink lots of wine
3-​talk to or see the celebrity chefs featured prominately on the website as being featured in at The Austin Food and Wine festival.
4-​enjoy a relaxing weekend
Here’s what we got instead:
1– demos by known celebrity chefs were packed and if you didn’t get in line 45min-​1hr, you could not get in. Each demo area had 3-​rows reserved for VIP ticket holders and 3 – 4 rows for regular ticket holders. Otherwise, you are left standing at the gated area or sitting on hot bleachers in the hot sun.
On Saturday, we only managed to get into one demo – Elizabeth Karmel’s something about grilling indoors with sawdust. Maybe it was the heat or maybe because it was boring, but both my husband and I fell asleep during the demo.
2-​the grand tasting had lots of big name wineries from CA. My favorites were Staggs Leap, Jordan, Miner. There were some cocktails also. The lines for drinks went quickly and there was plenty to wet everybody’s thirst.
3-​the food was of a few local restaurants and a few local businesses that sell to Whole Foods or at the farmer’s market. …A few in the line up were Judges Hill, Stubbs, Finn and Porter, Sullivans, Ranch 616, etc. I was hoping for «hip“restaurants or restaurants that would be difficult to get a table at. The bites were mediocre. I’ve been to all these restaurants and the food at the restaurants are far better than what they were showcasing. There just wasn’t a lot of food.
Once again, my expectation was to taste the celebrity chef’s creations! Instead, if you want decent food, they had food trucks (Coolhaus, East Side King, etc) that you can buy from.
4– there were not enough seats or tents to relax in. We sat on palates that they brought drinks on.
5-​WTF happened to Auditorium Shores? It used to be the most beautiful, green spot in Austin and now it just looks like a barren wasteland. Everything we ate and drank had dirt all over it.
6-​Where were all the celebrity chefs? They did their demos and went into hiding or something. If you wanted to wait in line, a few were signing their cookbooks.
7-​Where is the music? I only saw music in one of the tasting tents.
For $ 500, we got to see 2-​demos (one that we fell asleep during and Morimotos (he was really good!), 2-​grand tastings of mediocre food in crowded tents, lots of dirt to scrub off, and a bad taste in my mouth for any future Austin food and drink event.