A bit of rain couldn't keep foodies down at the 2026 Austin Food & Wine Festival. Dozens of chefs still showed up with their best bites, and Austinites trudged through the mud — in many cases, probably aided by purchases and deep closet dives from the rainy Austin City Limits Music Festival a month before.

It'd be hard to have a bad time at this festival, where there's always a snack 60 seconds away. All bites, wine, and cocktails are included in the ticket price, and the buffet mood carries attendees through a largely decision-free day where all they need to do is lightly pace themselves.

That laissez-faire attitude definitely extended to drinks this year. In previous years, there seems to be a mix of attendees who really want to dive deep on wine and spirits, and those who really just want to be drunk. This year, it felt like there was little information to be found and hardly anyone was looking for it; pourers seemed a little surprised to be asked for tasting notes. We didn't find any new wines we're obsessed with, so we focused on food here.

As usual, get ready to see a lot of raw fish on this list. It's a popular to serve at festivals, since it doesn't require cooking and can be served in an unfussy scoop. We also saw salsa macha emerging as a trend, which we're not complaining about.

Here are our favorite dishes from the 2026 Austin Food & Wine Festival. Where possible, we'll note how much the dish costs if you go order it right now.

Bites

2020 Market Scratch Kitchen & Bar: Seared scallops with butternut squash purée
Chef Ernesto Benitez of Georgetown’s 2020 Market served seared scallops in a butternut squash purée ($14) with fennel jam, roasted corn, and chorizo oil. The scallops were soft and buttery, as was nearly everything else on the plate, so the salty prosciutto chips did a lot of work to add crunch. It’s a rich dish, and a small portion was just right. — Natalie Grigson, contributing writer

Alteño: Ceviche de atun (tuna ceviche)
Alteño, a Denver-based restaurant that expanded into the new 1 Hotel Austin in September, brought a ceviche de atun that stood out even among the festival's many other raw hits, thanks to its layered flavors and presentation. Salsa macha and crunchy nuts gave the acidic aguachile blanco some body, texture, and earthiness. Chive oil brought color and a contrasting "green" taste. This particular ceviche is not on Alteño's menu, but the restaurant's main specialties are all raw. — Brianna Caleri, CultureMap Austin editor

The Cavalier: Boudin balls
Chef Kate Rousset’s boudin balls, from the New Orleans-inspired East Austin bar The Cavalier, combined duck, pork, and beef into a spiced stuffing with a good amount of heat. The crème fraîche cooled it down, the chicken skin and chili crunch added crunch, and the sun-dried tomatoes on top added a useful touch of sweetness. These boudin balls are a special, but The Cavalier does serve boudin Benedict ($16) at brunch. — NG

Ensenada ATX: Taco gobernador with salsa macha
I’m a sucker for salsa macha, so when I saw a molcajete full of Ensenada’s signature salsa, I had to grab a spoonful and ladle it over my bite. (You can buy it in a jar for $12.99.) The fried corn tortilla held its shape without collapsing or breaking as I ate it, and the shrimp was perfectly cooked beneath the layer of cabbage, pickled onions, and Oaxaca cheese. This exact taco is available at the food truck ($8). — Amber Heckler, network writer

Hermanas: Red snapper ceviche
Hermanas, a new restaurant on Sixth Street by Chef Silvino Sanchez, combines Mexican, Thai, and Lao cuisines, and the team brought the perfect bite to represent that. The red snapper ceviche was bathed in an umami-packed tomato broth (tomatoes are naturally high in MSG) and sprinkled with toasted rice powder, calling to mind sushi or poke without adding all the extra heft of rice. Makrut lime and cilantro oil further blended the cultural inspirations. The menu at Hermanas is flexible; a different red snapper aguachile ($24) is available now. — BC

Isidore: Parisa
Parisa, a raw beef dish from Medina County, isn't on Isidore's always-changing seasonal menu right now, but the San Antonio restaurant taught a lasting lesson about regional cuisine. Chef Ian Lanphear's take on parisa was served in a deep-fried shell, giving textural contrast and serving as a fatty flavor amplifier to the salty, lean meat, which tasted like prosciutto. A cheddar puree on top added some whimsy while representing the original inspiration. — BC

Justine’s Brasserie: Mousse aux champignons
Justine’s, the late-night French brasserie on East Fifth Street, served chef Manuel Rocha’s mushroom mousse on a savory crisp. The mousse was earthy and very rich, but the pickled shallots and chives cut through it nicely, and the crisp added a pleasant crunch. This dish is not on the regular Justine's menu. — NG

La Barbecue: S'mores
Guests won't find s'mores on the menu at La Barbecue, but they can appreciate the vibes set by pitmaster Ali Clem. Clem made valiant sacrifices at the pit the very end of the festival, crouching down to roast marshmallows and passing out s'mores by hand to a tipsy, clamoring crowd. Everyone's hands, including hers, were covered in fluff, and that camaraderie is exactly why the festival is so popular. — BC

Malk x Nooshi: Chai almond latte frozen yogurt
Two Austin-based brands, plant-based milk maker Malk and frozen yogurt pop-up Nooshi, teamed up to serve the most delightful dessert bite on Saturday and Sunday. Nooshi’s smooth Persian-inspired chai frozen yogurt was made using Malk’s non-dairy almond milk, and it was served with a crunchy SkinnyDipped dark chocolate peanut butter wafer. — AH

Mexico Ceaty: Mole poblano with smoked chicken
Renowned San Antonio chef Jason Dady brought his mole poblano from Mexico Ceaty, his Mexican food hall on the River Walk. The tender smoked chicken legs were fully coated in a dark, almost chocolatey mole with an afterthought of heat, and the toasted sesame seeds added a bit of texture. It was messy to eat, but well worth it. Guests can try a mole flight ($19.95) at Tres Arcos, which is part of Mexico Ceaty.— NG

Verbena: Peruvian ceviche
Unique ingredients help individuals like Verbena in the array of raw dishes really stand out. A crispy corn chip was the perfect scoop for Verbena’s ceviche ($24), and the white corn cancha chulpe — a traditional Andean snack made of toasted corn kernels — added an extra crunch that paired well with the flavors of the snapper and leche de tigre. — AH

Demos

Amanda Turner/ChowChow
Former Olamaie chef Amanda Turner is about to launch a new Southern residency called ChowChow at the site of the now-closed Hoover's Cooking. This festival was a partial debut for the concept. Turner taught attendees how to make her very intuitive shrimp bouillabaisse, which they may have tried at Olamaie: make a shrimp shell stock with holy trinity vegetables, thyme, fennel seeds, bay leaves, and tomato paste that's been cooked to a rusty color; blend and strain everything; add a splash of sherry; and poach the shrimp in a lot of butter seasoned with salt, reusing the butter later for thickening the soup and other sauces. Garnish with chives or parsley, and add potatoes for more heft. Turner also assured the crowd that Olamaie founder Michael Fojtasek is doing well, and explained that she created ChowChow to build upon the foundation started by Chef Hoover Alexander, who has been a mentor to her. — BC

Esther Choi: Two-day Korean barbecue short ribs
“Korean barbecue is a little different,” said New York chef Esther Choi, the owner of Mokbar and a finalist on Netflix’s Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend. The short ribs from her new cookbook, Hand Taste ($40 hardcover, $18.99 ebook), marinate for two full days, then are just “kissed” on the grill for about two minutes per side. That means the marinade, which she called the “heart and soul” of the dish, does nearly all the work. Choi’s marinade was a blend of Asian pear, onion, soy sauce, sesame oil, and plenty of garlic and sugar, strained into a creamy sauce. “Good food takes time,” she reiterated throughout the demo. Editor Brianna Caleri tried it on Friday in a handroll with snappy seaweed, rice, and kimchi relish, and found it super tender, salty, and a little sweet. — NG

Richard Blais: Liquid nitrogen tequila sorbet with a side of surf n’ turf
Chef Richard Blais is well known as a television personality, restaurateur, and cookbook author, but he should add comedian to his resume with all the jokes he was cracking on stage during his demo. Blais closed out the rainy final day of the festival by mixing up a gigantic batch of “margaritas” — half a bottle of tequila mixed with a small amount of fresh citrus juice — and freely dumping his favorite ingredient, liquid nitrogen, into the mixing bowl while whisking to turn the mixture into a “sorbet.” Sous chef Scarlett Brida joined him to churn out seared filet mignon with a lobster ravioli topper, served with a side of creamed spinach made with parsnip puree and whiskey flambéed mushrooms. — AH