Some one-on-one competition is spicing up the peaceful farmers market experience. Local chefs from L'Oca d'Oro and Lenoir, two highly regarded Austin restaurants, will compete in the third annual Texas Farmers’ Market (TFM) Chef Throwdown in the Mueller neighborhood on Sunday, April 19.

The chefs suiting up are Jess Simpkin, the chef de cuisine (head chef) of L’Oca d’Oro, and Todd Duplechan, co-owner of Lenoir and now Boni’s Bar Next Door, a new Spanish-inspired snack and cocktail bar on the same property. Their task will be to make a great dish using ingredients from market vendors, assigned to the chefs in a mystery box.

Simpkin has been in Austin since 2011 and is a graduate of the Escoffier School, which has a campus here. She formerly worked at Gardner and Chicon, two restaurants by the same team in the same space that are both now closed, and really moved up the ranks at Dai Due, serving as the sous chef. She has been with Italian restaurant L'Oca d'Oro since 2025.

Duplechan works closely with his wife, Jessica Maher, keeping the sophisticated yet friendly South Austin neighborhood restaurant Lenoir relevant since 2012. It's known for farm-to-table food flavored to stand up to Texas' spicy climate. They finally expanded their restaurant footprint in March of 2026 with Boni's, in a refurbished 1934 bungalow.

They'll be joined by KUTX's Taylor Wallace as the event's emcee, and three judges will determine the winner: City of Austin food policy manager Edwin Marty, co-chef and owner of Foreign & Domestic Sarah Heard, and TFM executive director Laura McDonald. Shoppers will also be able to taste the dishes and select their favorite; Sarah Heard knows all about this as last year's audience choice winner.

“Texas Farmers’ Market exists to strengthen the connection between the people who grow our food and the people who cook and enjoy it,” said McDonald in a press release. “The Chef Throwdown is a fun, high-energy way to showcase that relationship in action. By challenging talented local chefs to create dishes using ingredients sourced directly from our vendors, we’re highlighting the incredible quality and diversity of what our Central Texas farmers produce, and celebrating the collaboration that makes our local food community so special.”

The Chef Throwdown will take place from 10 am to 1 pm at TFM's Mueller location. The market happens every Sunday at the southeast corner of Aldrich and Garcia Streets alongside Mary Elizabeth Branch Park. TFM accepts SNAP benefits and financially supports farmers through its Ag Producer Support Fund and BIPOC Scholarship.