Food Fest Frenzy

Austin Food & Wine Festival announces Texas-sized 2013 programming

To satiate your Texas-sized appetite, Austin Food & Wine Festival has announced its full programming lineup for the second annual event.

Taking place April 26 - 28, festival organizers promise an even bigger and better program for 2013 — a full three days of grand tastings, hands-on seminars, book signings and more at Auditorium Shores.

Today, Austin Food & Wine Festival delivered with the full programming schedule, which also includes some all-star chef additions.

In addition to those announced in November, chefs Graham Elliot Bowles (chef/restaurateur of Graham Elliot and Grahamwich) and Brian Malarkey (set to open Searsucker Austin this spring; currently a judge on The Taste) will be in attendance.

Highlights from the Texas-sized programming released by Austin Food & Wine Festival include the following events.

It's Tailgate Time in Texas

The festival's events at Auditorium Shores will kick off the morning of Saturday, April 27 when Austin plays host to the world's largest hands-on grilling demo, led by Fort Worth chef Tim Love. During the weekend, guests will have three opportunities to man a live grill, learn tips and tricks about grilling, all the while enjoying crisp white wine and maybe a tequila shot (or two).

Texas Wines: Ready for the Main Stage

Texas wine expert Russ Kane curates an all-star panel to discuss the state of Lone Star vino. Panel will include Master Sommeliers Devon Brogile and Craig Collins, along with June Rodil of Qui Restaurant.

For the Love of Beer

Bill Norris of the Alamo Drafthouse will lead a panel of regional and national craft brewers through a discussion of inside tips, tricks and techniques about the art of craft brew.

The Taste of Texas

The festival will start on Friday, April 26 with its Taste of Texas programming at Republic Square Park. Guests will sample bites from an array of Texas chefs, while enjoying music from Delta Spirit and Whiskey Shivers. Texas chefs include:

Tim Byres (chef/co-owner, SMOKE)
Jason Dady (chef/owner, Jason Dady Restaurant Group), Ned & Jodi Elliot (executive chef/owner & pastry chef/owner, Foreign and Domestic)
Aaron Franklin (pitmaster, Franklin Barbecue)
Terrence Gallivan & Seth Siegel-Gardner (executive chefs/owners, The Pass & Provisions)
Sarah Grueneberg (executive chef, Spiaggia & Café Spiaggia)
James Holmes (executive chef, Lucy’s Fried Chicken & Olivia)
Paul Qui (founder, East Side King)
John Russ (executive chef, Lüke)
Chris Shepherd (executive chef, Underbelly)
Philip Speer (pastry chef, Uchi & Uchiko)
Blaine Staniford (executive chef, GRACE)
Danny Trace (executive chef, Brennan’s)
Tre Wilcox (executive chef, Marquee Grill)
Andrew Wiseheart (executive chef, Contigo)
Jamie Zelko (executive chef/owner, Zelko Bistro)

Rock Your Taco

On Saturday night, Republic Square Park will host the festival's second annual Rock Your Taco contest. Defending champion Tyson Cole will compete against the following lineup of all-star chefs.

David Bull (executive chef/owner, Congress, Second Bar + Kitchen & Bar Congress)
Jon Shook & Vinny Dotolo (chef/owners, Animal & Son of a Gun)
Susan Feniger (executive chef, Border Grill)
Bryce Gilmore (chef/owner, Barley Swine)
Tim Love; Tony Mantuano (cookbook author and chef/partner, Spiaggia, Cafe Spiaggia, Terzo Piano & Bar Toma)
Brian Malarkey (chef & restaurateur, Searsucker)
Marc Murphy (executive chef, Landmarc NYC & Ditch Plains)
Rene Ortiz (executive chef, La Condesa Austin, La Condesa Napa Valley & Sway)
Marcus Samuelsson (chef/owner, Red Rooster Harlem, Ginny’s Supper Club & co-founder, FoodRepublic.com)
Laura Sawicki (pastry chef, La Condesa Austin, La Condesa Napa Valley & Sway)
Christina Tosi (pastry chef, Momofuku Milk Bar)
Jonathan Waxman (chef/owner, Barbuto NYC)
Andrew Zimmern (chef, author, teacher, James Beard Foundation Award winner from Bizarre Foods on Travel Channel)

For the full programming schedule, visit the Austin Food & Wine Festival website. Tickets are on sale now.

Austin Food & Wine Festival announces 2013 programming.

unspecified

Best of BBQ

Austin favorite declared best BBQ joint in Texas by Southern Living

Franklin Barbecue/Instagram

Franklin Barbecue has topped another Texas barbecue list.

Don’t be surprised if the almost ever-present lines grow even longer outside East Austin’s Franklin Barbecue, one of the darlings of the local barbecue scene. Offering yet another culinary accolade, Southern Living has crowned Franklin the best barbecue joint in Texas for 2025.

In all, the magazine singled out one barbecue restaurant in each of 16 states — although Texas had plenty of influence elsewhere, too. Southern Living based its 2025 winners on the results of an online survey of the magazine’s readers.

Here’s Southern Living’s take on Franklin Barbecue:

“In 2009, Aaron Franklin helped launch the craft barbecue movement from a small Aristocrat Lo-Liner camper trailer parked near I-35 in downtown Austin. Flawless prime-grade brisket, tender pork ribs, and snappy jalapeño cheddar sausage — plus a dose of nascent social media — rocketed him to Internet celebrity. Franklin Barbecue moved into its current blue and white building on East 11th Street in 2011, and barbecue fans from around the globe have been lining up for hours to experience it.”

Franklin himself is no stranger to professional kudos. For instance, he won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southwest and is a member of the American Royal Barbecue Hall of Fame.

Southern Living spiced up its 2025 barbecue list by mentioning winners in other states that have embraced Texas-style barbecue.

“Texas-style brisket continues to spread across the South, winning over fans from Charleston to Little Rock,” the magazine pointed out.

Here’s a taste of this year’s Texas copycats, as cited by Southern Living:

Wright’s Barbecue, the 2025 winner in Arkansas, “is a noteworthy practitioner of the Texas-inspired craft style that is taking the South by storm, and barbecue fans in Arkansas are eating it up.” Wright’s even serves a combo of meats known as the Texas Trinity: thick-sliced brisket, tender pepper-spiked ribs, and juicy sausage links. The barbecue chain smokes meats for Arkansas customers in Johnson (near Fayetteville), Bentonville, Little Rock, and Rogers.
In Kansas City, where barbecue icon Arthur Bryant’s BBQ grabbed Missouri’s top spot, the barbecue scene “has shifted in recent years thanks to a parade of aspiring pitmasters bringing the styles of Texas and elsewhere to this storied smoked meat capital.” It’s worth pointing out, though, that Arthur Bryant’s hasn’t adopted this Texas trend.
Former Austin pitmaster John Lewis, who grew up in El Paso, opened South Carolina’s top barbecue joint, Lewis Barbecue, in Charleston in 2016. He added a second barbecue joint in Greenville in 2022. As you might have guessed, both restaurants specialize in Texas-style barbecue.

Aside from rating barbecue joints, Southern Living readers identified the South’s 10 best cities and 10 best beach towns for 2025 based on the survey’s findings. Charleston landed at No. 1 on the list of the best cities, and St. Simons Island, Georgia, snagged first place on the list of the best beach towns. No Texas community showed up in either ranking.

“Southern hospitality is more than just a saying — it’s a way of life — and no one knows the best experiences better than the locals. That’s why, year after year, we turn to our readers to share their favorite places that define the South,” said editor in chief at Southern Living Sid Evans in a press release.

barbecue bests southern living lists