Our sister sites in NYC, San Francisco, and Chicago may have the culinary advantage of established food scene braggin' rights, but during the long weekend of April 10-13, the Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival returns for its 23rd year, showcasing Central Texas' unique culinary points of distinction (with modern mixology, gourmet hangover breakfasts, and Austinist's most important gastronomic matter - the ubiquitous search for the perfect taco - at the head of the line.)

Much like Austin, with a whole lot of pleasure and a little bit of pain, the festival has reinvented itself over the years - not afraid of breaking a few sacred cows in the process. We're the first to admit that we scoffed when we heard the Sunday Fair was moving to Georgetown from the Salt Lick a couple of years ago - but it worked!

Favorite events like Stars Across Texas and the Sunday Fair are augmented this year by fresh new events like Zen Nation, a cocktail party at Action Figure and an opportunity to get Uncorked and Acoustic.

Also this year, mixologist Alex Ott, Top Chef's Tre Wilcox and Chef Aarón Sanchez are only a few of the festival's featured food personalities, augmented by Austinist favorites including Chef Aimee Olson from Texas Culinary Academy, festival mainstay Chef David Bull, and Alamo Drafthouse Chefs Trish Eichelberger and John Bullington.

Tickets are on sale now - check out the event menu here. Big appetite? Pony up, big spender. We got'cher VIP pass right here.

Austinist is an Official Media Sponsor of the Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival