all you can eat meat

A rip-roaring, belt-busting good time: Texas Monthly Barbecue Festival ticketson sale Thursday

For Texan pitmasters and their worshipers, Christmas comes early each year in the form of September's Texas Monthy Barbecue Festival, a rip-roaring, belt-busting all-you-can-eat meat event. Tickets for the 3rd annual event go on sale Thursday and are expected to sell out.

Texas Monthly food editor Patricia Sharpe curates the 21 barbecue joints chosen for the Festival each year and selects the Festival "Newcomer." This year, the torch will be passed from the now-famed Franklin Barbecue of Austin to the Pecan Lodge of Dallas.

If you'd like to do some extensive independent research in advance of the fall event, Texas Monthly also offers a carefully crafted BBQ Finder mobile app that debuted in conjunction with last year's Barbecue Festival. As the magazine says, "[it's] the app no connoisseur of smoked meat should be without. The only thing it doesn’t have is a nice smoky smell."

"We launched the [BBQ Finder] app last year when the BBQ Festival tickets went on sale," Texas Monthly editor Jake Silverstein tells CultureMap.

"The app has had a great run since then — more than 25,000 downloads, a major award from the City and Regional Magazine Association, and, best of all, it's helped thousands of people find great new joints in Texas and around the country, and helped us foster this great, thriving community, with the Festival and our coverage in the magazine and online, of people who love to eat barbecue and talk about eating barbecue."

As an event that attracts barbecue fans from clear across the Lone Star State, it'll be best to develop a game plan for when the tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. They're bound to go faster than a rack of pork ribs from Stanley's.

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The Texas Monthly Barbecue Festival takes place September 23 at the Long Center City Terrace. For the full list of featured entertainment and FAQ, click here. VIP tickets are $118; regular admission are $58.

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Roast Me

Austin perks up for coffee festival with 40+ participating roasters

Photo by DD Goes Digital

The Austin Coffee Festival caters to coffee experts and gets newbies up to speed.

Is that caffeine in your bloodstream, or are you just excited to see this headline? Coffee lovers in Austin will have a wonderful awakening September 28 and 29 when the Austin Coffee Festival pours into the Palmer Events Center.

Returning attendees will have a new experience this year, in part because the festival has moved from Fair Market, the warehouse event venue on East Fifth Street. This is the third annual iteration of the local tasting fair.

Although there's something for (almost) everything, the 2023 event showed a firm commitment to all things coffee; so even the most open-minded, non-caffeinated friends tagging along should be ready to embrace the theme.

Drinks at 2023 Austin Coffee Festival Creative drinks at the 2023 festival included these Pineapple Upside Down cups (pineapple juice, club soda, grenadine, and Mexico Finca Muxbal Espresso) and BBGShooters (Minor Figures Oat Milk, cinnamon, honey, and steamed cold brew) by Red Horn Coffee House and Brewing Co.Photo by Robert Cantu

Of course, this will be a great place to compare brews and find a new favorite, with more than 40 roasters attending. That includes local favorites like Sightseer Coffee Roasters, Barrett's Coffee, and Medici Coffee Roasters.

Folks who are curious about coffee (or who know way too much and want even more) can get more information on the products from visiting pros. There will also be some panels including discussions about how coffee fits into broader culture, how the coffee industry got to where it is today, and how to open — or resist opening — a coffee shop.

For a bit more freshness, there will also be some non-coffee items to try, like tea and chai, and non-dairy milk company Oatly is a sponsor. If past options prevail, there should also be at least one coffee-infused dessert. Live music increases the festival fun.

Vendor selling cups at 2023 Austin Coffee Festival Whimsically colored coffee cups make a nice gift for a friend who couldn't make it.Photo by OlgaMedia Productions

Finally, creative baristas can compete for the best latte art in a contest presented by Austin Coffee Collective. This is a serious competition, with four rounds of one pour each, ending in a $500 prize. Competitors can even choose to bring their own milk pitcher for maximal control.

Three judges — Bryson Lambert of Medici, Sam Peyton of Texas Coffee Traders, and Jak Ryan of Proud Mary — will determine who wins. According to the website, they're looking for "design uniqueness or classic appeal, level of difficulty, definition, symmetry, execution, contrast, and full cup."

Tickets (starting at $24 for a half-day) are available at austincoffeefestival.com.