Food: Austin Food + Wine Festival Announced; Morimoto, Zimmern, Waxman + More To Appear

This afternoon at Uchiko, C3 and Food & Wine announced the schedule for the inaugural edition of the Austin Food & Wine Festival, which will be held from April 27-29. The festival replaces the much-loved but often financially challenged Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival. C3 engaged chefs and restauranteurs Tyson Cole (Uchi), Tim Love (Lovesome Dove, Ft. Worth), and Jesse Herman (La Condesa) as partners in the festival, and each of those restaurants is featured prominently on the event schedule.

First, the talent list. Whereas THCWFF tended to go primarily local, the Food & Wine branding is bringing in some major nationally recognized food talent. Among the many highlights, "Iron Chef" Masaharu Morimoto will be cooking or teaching at three events, as will "Top Chef Masters" winner Marcus Samuelsson. New York's comfort food king Jonathan Waxman will also appear, and Top Chef's Gail Simmons will teach a seminar at the festival. "Bizarre Foods" host and chef Andrew Zimmern will be on hand as well to teach a global street food workshop. Local highlights include multiple appearance from David Bull (Congress), Tyson Cole, Paul Qui (Uchiko, Top Chef), Bryce Gilmore (Barley Swine), Rene Ortiz (La Condesa), and Aaron Franklin (Franklin BBQ).

As for the format, this festival will look quite a bit different (and honestly, a bit like a culinary version of ACL) when compared to the multiple locations, tickets, and formats utilized for Hill Country Wine & Food in the past. The new version is based in two locations only - Downtown's Republic Square Park for the Friday and Saturday VIP events and 78704's Auditorium Shores for pretty much everything else. There are two ticket tiers as well (at press time, it appears that single-session tickets are not an option) - $250 buys you Auditorium Shores access for Saturday and Sunday for the three Grand Tasting sessions and all the classes, while ponying up $850 (yes, $850) gets you VIP seating at Auditorium Shores, VIP parking, and two Sip and Stroll tasting events not available with the other package, one featuring a performance by Austin favorite Lucinda Williams.

All told, today's announcement marks a sea change for the Austin food scene in general - it's quite a departure from anything we've seen here in recent years. One interesting question that remains is the Grand Tasting lineup of both restaurants and wineries - in prior years, local wineries were heavily represented, while local breweries generally didn't participate. With the growing presence of Texas wine and craft beer along with the newly "big stage" involvement of Food & Wine and C3, it will be very interesting to see what mix of food and beverages is offered in the Grand Tasting sessions.

Tickets to the festival go on sale January 24th via the festival website.

Like what you see? Not so sure? Either way, let us know in the comments.

Image via austinfoodandwinefestival.com.