In Review: The Austin Food & Wine Festival
For months, a great deal of hype and anticipation surrounded this weekend’s Austin Food & Wine Festival, and yet even before the festival commenced, extensive criticism began plaguing it. Many critics from around Texas and Austin bemoaned the rather pricey tickets: $850 is a pretty penny to have to pay for a VIP ticket, even if you are tasting the cuisine from figures like Masaharu Morimoto, Marcus Samuelsson, and Austin’s own Paul Qui while sipping back glasses upon glasses of bold reds and subtle whites. And, sure, you could pay $250 for a Weekender Pass, but would that $600 difference drastically change the experience? (Spoiler alert: It did)
Many Texans were attached to the less-high-brow, less-Austin-friendly Texas Hill Country Food & Wine Festival. And no Texan likes when East-Coast outsiders come into their state and tell them how to run things, so to have a name like Food & Wine behind the whole event really sent some Texans over the edge.
In the end, the festival’s star-studded chef lineup, gourmet tastings, and provoking panels provided good to great satisfaction and entertainment for the commencement year. And, the food and wine – oh God, the food and wine – was amazing. Each of the chefs brought forth their signature performances, personalities, and tastings; massive props to them for their delivery and charisma. Yet in truth, there is improvement needed before next year.
No better kickoff could have been planned than Tim Love’s large grilling demo. With 200 fired-up grills, juicy skirt steaks, thick New York strips, and crisp broccolini, the chef communicated his extensive grilling knowledge with a welcome helping of crude and risqué humor. The chef was like a culinary tour guide leading clueless, curious diners through flaming coals.
Morimoto’s demo was laced and his notable charm, culinary smarts, and calm nature. Although there was significant timing overlap in the demos, if you were able to inch your way into the cooking tents, you probably had a darn good time Saturday and Sunday.
Saturday’s awkward two-hour gap between events was the most noticeable flaw of the weekend. Attendees simply slept on concrete bricks to sleep off food comas, sheltered themselves from the sun under under bare tree limbs, stalked celebrity chefs around the park, or starred into the dusty abyss. Word of advice for next year: never give your attendees an excuse to leave your festival – ever. If you absolutely have to make them wait, you need to make it more comfortable. The lack of tents, fans, and seating made it difficult to want to stay and sweat it out. It was also a little saddening to see the condition of Auditorium Shores. Mother Nature did a number on the land over the past year, so much so that when a light breeze blew, a stormy dust bowl was created. You can’t blame C3 and the festival for that, though. God knows Texas weather is unforgiving.
Saturday night’s Rock Your Taco Showdown was clearly planned well, but executed a little haphazardly. Sure, the idea of tasting some of the nation’s best chef’s tacos is tempting, but is it really worth it to stand in long line for 20 to 25 minutes for each small tasting? No…. If you’re going to pay $850, you better not have to wait. And yes, not even for Tyson Cole’s award-winning crispy pork jowl taco. I’m that serious.
Photo taken by Nick Simonite
Last but not least, the mosh pits of people tying to get to book signings, cooking demos, food tastings, community bathrooms, and the one and only entrance was a little absurd. This all goes back to the issue of comfort; if you’re going to make your guests dish out the big bucks, you better deliver.
I believe in the potential of this festival. Austin is a city that is growing in national culinary relevance, and with more tweaking and better planning, I believe this festival can be on par with the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen. The Austin Food & Wine Festival’s libations and eatings were glorious, but if they are going to make the festival worth the ticket prices next year, they better bring all the charms, bells, and whistles and nothing less.
Tagged: austin, Austin Food & Wine Festival, Layne Lynch, Texas Hill Country Food and Wine Festival
Tracy says:
That was the biggest waste of money I have ever spent to basically attend a swankier version of the State Fair. Those of us with lowly weekender passes felt like minions boiling in the dusty haze. Dust and wine don’t mix. They should have held it at Zilker or Laguna Gloria or anywhere better than auditorium shores. The lines were ridiculous and they needed better shade. The line entrance and surly volunteers did not make for a good experience. Wish I had just spent the money at Uchi or another great local restaurant. Shame on you C3!
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Guinea Pig says:
While I, too, believe the festival has potential, I think they have lots of room for improvement. My major complaint was the lack of food at this food festival. How did anyone fall into a food coma? Heat stroke, I would believe. Asphyxiation by dust, I would believe. Dying of boredom, I would believe. Those of us with the $250 “cheap seats” (not cheap and few seats) were starved until 11:45 on Saturday, 2pm on Sunday. Did the VIP pass allow you to taste what the chefs prepared? I guess somebody was eating…just not me.
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Joe S says:
To the two commenters above, the press and VIPs were treated to constant food and the actual ability to mingle with the chefs where as those of us lowly folks who just bought the $250 passes were doused with alcohol all day to keep us comatose.
Seriously, we’re adults, we aren’t at some kiddie ACL type fest. Forcing us in lines like cattle and making us rush from venue to venue just to get a seat is not compatible with a $250+ ticket price.
Every other food fest in the country sells individual tickets to the various events so you can plan your trip ahead of time. C3 sold the promise of letting us get into these events without actually providing the space.
The few cooking demos I did make it into were equivalent to the ones I see for free every year at the Texas Book Fest. The same chefs even come and do them and sign their books after. Not sure why we had to pay $250 for a chance to see the same thing we get for free without even getting to sample the food.
The grand tasting was pathetic. The other events I’ve been to in Austin like Laguna Gloria and the old Hill Country Fest tastings had 5 times as many local restaurants and the price would be $100 or less for those tastings.
Let’s face fact and call a spade a spade. Unless you had a VIP or Press badge, this event was a waste.
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BCauley512 says:
First of all- I will go back next year- I enjoyed many things about the festival- but for me it was definitely a splurge- $500 for two tickets- In Austin TX- the whole VIP vs. Weekender pass just seems wrong! Why not sign up for events you’d like to attend and be guarantee a seat if you sign up and are granted a spot. Why not be able to sign up for the evening events even if you can’t spend $850 per pop- I felt like I spent all day Saturday feeling disappointed, hot, not getting into sessions I was excited about and resented the VIP’s just marching on in- Take away the separateness and let people sign up for what they want to go to. I agree with others- more food! I did enjoy hearing the chefs I heard! Gail Simmons and Michelle Bernstein, but did have to wait in line for 50 minutes and barely got into the tent. It was just plain wrong that anyone had to sit in the hot sun on bleachers.– Maybe they should do it earlier in April or inside the convention center.
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