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50+ chefs and restaurants revealed for 2025 Austin Food & Wine Fest

Small bites are the main event at the Austin Food & Wine Festival.

Photo by Roger Ho

One of Austin's top annual food events is cooking up its 2025 event, with a newly announced lineup and tickets available for sale now. The Austin Food & Wine Festival will return to Auditorium Shores from November 7-9. Visiting chefs include Tiffani Faison, Fabio Viviani, Tiffany Derry, Kevin Fink, Tavel Bristol-Joseph, and many more.

Just like any other tasting event, the Austin Food & Wine Festival is mostly made up of long rows of chef and vineyard stations — but this huge event features chefs from around Texas and even farther. When attendees want a break from standing on lines and snacking, there are other things to do like watch cooking demos (including at the hot-but-fascinating live fire area), enjoy cocktails, sit down for more in-depth tastings, and dance it all off to a DJ set. There will also be events outside of the general tasting hours.

Each experience is a little different, but a lot depends on the chefs making it all happen. Here's who Austinites can expect to see plating things up during the main festival on Saturday and Sunday:

Chef Showcase: Most participating chefs are part of the Chef Showcase, the rows of tables with small bites and finger food. They all represent a larger business — usually a local restaurant.

ABW Can Tina
Arlo Grey
Bill's Oyster
Black Gold
Black's BBQ
Carpenter Hotel
Casa Bianca
Cousin Louie's
Cruzteca
Dashi
Eberly
El Alma
Garrison
Honey Moon Spirit Lounge
Hotel Van Zandt
Hotel Viata
Intero
Juliet
Kalimotxo
Lonesome Dove
Loro
Oko
Ostia
P6
Parish BBQ
Parkside
Poeta
Poke-Poke
RedFarm
Serenade
Skipjack Oyster
Soho House
Swift's Attic
Swim Club
Taco Pegaso
Tacodeli
Tare Sushi
Teddy's
The Cavalier
Uchi
Verbena
Walton's Fancy & Staple
Woodneck Kitchen
Wu Chow
Yamas
More TBA

Demos: Some chefs will cook a full meal step-by-step, filmed and presented live on a big screen next to them.

Tiffany Derry (Roots Southern Table and MasterChef Judge)
Tristen Epps (Top Chef Winner - Season 22)
Tiffani Faison (Big Heart Hospitality and Chopped Judge)
Kevin Fink and Tavel Bristol-Joseph (Pullman Market and Emmer & Rye Hospitality Group)
Lorena Garcia (CHICA Restaurants)
Fabio Viviani (Fabio Viviani Hospitality)
Joshua Weissman (Cookbook Author and YouTuber)

Fire Pit: Chefs will prepare more rugged meals at the fire pit — usually but not always involving meat. This area tends to be very laid-back, and attendees may get to chat with a chef during some down time. The chefs are still TBD, but they'll be chosen by the following Central Texas heavyweights.

Chef Jason Dady (Jason Dady Restaurants) for Saturday, November 8
Chef John Bates (Interstellar BBQ) for Sunday, November 9

The base experience includes the events listed above, with either a one-day or two-day ticket for Saturday and Sunday. There are also a few other add-on experiences.

Made In Texas: A smaller tasting, or dine-around event, will be held Friday evening from 7-9:30 pm on the Long Center Terrace. It'll feature chefs that emphasize the diversity of Texas. Tickets for this event have been waitlisted.

All the chefs listed above in the "demos" section
Ali Clem (La Barbecue)
Diego Galicia (Mixtli)
Sarah Heard and Nathan Lemley (Foreign & Domestic)
Fermín Núñez (Suerte)
Amanda Rockman (Rockman Coffee + Bakeshop)
Jam Santichat (Thai Fresh)

Hands-on Grilling: A pre-festival cookout on Saturday will allow attendees to cook their own meal on a charcoal grill.

Grilling tips courtesy of Chef Tim Love

VIP experiences: These extras make the experience a little sweeter for guests who purchase VIP-tier tickets.

Early entrance via dedicated VIP lane
Access to VIP lounge with specialty food and drinks, shaded seating, and premium restrooms

Although this announcement didn't deal much with the beverage side of the event, a press release does draw attention to sommelier Anthony Giglio, who is a contributing editor to Food & Wine magazine. He is said to "enhance this year’s Austin Food & Wine Festival offerings."

Tickets start at $200 for just Sunday, and reach $750 for all-inclusive access to all events. Attendees must be age 21 and up. Ticket sales will benefit the Texas Food & Wine Alliance, a hospitality industry nonprofit that works in Central Texas. The festival is presented by C3 Presents.

It's fun to taste and learn at the festival, but one of the best parts is getting to know the food scene better, for better-informed choices on where to dine for the rest of the year. To catch up on our favorites from 2024, check out our favorite bites and moments.

chefs festivals wine barbecue

News You Can Eat

A new Japanese ritual and a Tex-Mex eatery open in Austin food news

Photo courtesy of Kappo Kappo

Like the other restaurants at the Austin Proper Hotel, Kappo Kappo goes for elegant presentation.

Austin is a pretty straightforward place, but its food scene runs on fusions and collabs. Whether that's French-prepared Japanese food, a classic take on Tex-Mex, or ice cream and wine, Austin restaurants are doing it all this week.

Openings and closings

A new hotel restaurant at the Austin Proper breaks the mold with an unexpected offering: Japanese cuisine made with French technique, prepared tableside. Open as of November 28, Kappo Kappo (named after the cooking style) is now serving 11-course meals featuring wagyu beef, seafood, and desserts. It's all thanks to twin chefs Haru and Gohei Kishi, who see ritual as an important part of the experience. Kappo Kappo is located at 600 W. 2nd St. Operating hours are 6-9 pm Tuesdays through Thursdays, and 5-11 pm Fridays and Saturdays.

After the fall of Z'Tejas Avery Ranch, the last location for the longtime chain, a new restaurant is now open in its place (14900 Avery Ranch Blvd. B100). The Tex-Mex theme lives on at Blue Agave, a restaurant and bar serving an expansive menu featuring burritos and chimichangas, enchiladas, fajitas, tacos, combo platters, and more. On the beverage side, guests can expect signature margaritas and other cocktails, tequila flights, wine, beer, and nonalcoholic drinks. Blue Agave is open for daily dinner, weekday lunch and happy hour, and weekend brunch. Hours are 11 am to 10 pm Mondays through Thursdays, 11 am to 11 pm Fridays, 9 am to 11 pm Saturdays, and 9 am to 9 pm Sundays.

Get ready for a lot of buzzy place names: California-based Nashville hot chicken chain Angry Chickz is expanding to 25 new franchise locations in Texas and New Mexico, including at least one in Austin. That would bring the chain to 58 locations in total. No address has been shared for the Austin spot, but all of them are expected to open in 2026.

Angry Chickz dishes A very saturated look at spicy chicken and sides.Photo courtesy of Angry Chickz

Other news and notes

The Austin chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier is seeking applications for scholarships and grants to women in hospitality, food, and beverage industries from now through January 18. Last year's awards totaled $50,000 to 14 women. More information at ldeiaustin.org.

Shokunin, a new concept by the group behind Sushi By Scratch, has thrown a bone to diners who can't seem to get a seat at the 20-seat bar. Now, there's a waitlist that shows how long it should take for seats to become available. It's not a surprise that Shokunin was flooded with customers, considering that the idea was to open a more accessible alternative to its fancy, hard-to-book sister restaurant. The waitlist will open with the restaurant at 5 pm, and tables will be held for 10 minutes after guests are notified.

South African wine bar Cape Bottle Room is hosting a sweet pairing pop-up December 9, matching up wines and ice cream flights by Chef Jack Fanelli of the original Driftwood Golf & Ranch Club. Flavors and pairings are a surprise, but a photo teaser shows a hefty topping. Tickets ($54 including a 20 percent service gratuity) are available at capebottleroom.com.

Cape Bottle Room Jack Fanelli ice cream pop-up Cape Bottle Room is pairing ice creams and wines December 9.Photo by Jack Fanelli

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