And that is saying something. Austin alone has Hot Luck Fest, Austin Food and Wine and even Austin City Limits Music Festival makes a case to got for the food alone.
So what makes Field Guide Fest a standout? Marrying great produce with great chefs. It’s all about Texas Farms at the Field Guide Fest. Here were some of my most memorable bites.
You are going to want to grab a few extra napkins. Whole joint chicken wings from Michelin starred BBQ chef Evan LeRoy naps some chicken from Greener Pastures farms and goes town. Smokey, salty and well spiced, it was a miracle I didn’t stain my shirt. Finger licking good.
One might think the braised beef would be the star of show when it comes to this tamal from La Condessa. But no, it was the masa. Wrapped in a banana leaf it was so rich, tender and moist, I honestly can’t imagine why I would eat a corn husk tamale ever again.
But if it came from farm to table high end Mexican restaurant La Condessa, I would consider it. Whatever tamale they come up with, this certainly a reason why I think Field Guide Fest is the best food festival in Austin.
Two things are new to me: veggie gumbo and Hissy Fit. Turns out I have just been in the dark. Veggie gumbo isn’t an accomodation but rather part of the Cajun canon right along with seafood or chicken and sausage. The leafy greens and leeks from Farmshare Austin were just as savory as Andouille sausage and had hints of Chinese cookery as well and that complexity is what makes Field Guide Fest the best food festival in Austin. Looks like I gotta check out Hissy Fit now.
Chef Ling Qi Wu is the queen of Chinese cooking in Austin TX. Her dim sum at Lin Asian blew me away back in 2019. Now with five restaurant concepts under her name she adds some much needed poultry diversity to Field Guide Fest.
Partnering with Belle Vie Farms allows her to bring a smoked duck dish which might make the case for Field Guide Fest being the best food festival in Austin.
Typically served in a roll, the chicken merguez sausage was also plated which works well for guys like me watching my carb in take. Foreign and Domestic has been a farm to table fine dining destination restaurant for many years now. For them to join Field Guide Fest was a natural fit.
What was not a natural fit was me loving a chicken based sausage as much as I loved this one. My takeaway is that when cooked gently, chicken sausage can be just as memorable as a pork, lamb, or beef version.
Off the visual part of me said “this dish looks too healthy” at least considering I was amped up for a Sunday Funday. Then I took a bite. Smoked heritage pork tenderloin isn’t an automatic slam dunk as the lean cut can come out less insta delish like say pork belly. I was impressed.
And yes this seems almost like a weekday salad lunch except the flavors were pretty much explosive. Turns out the greens and the carrots from Eden East Farms pack a wallop of flavor. Also am here to bookmark Store House Market in Bastrop TX(30 miles east of Austin). This is the kind of dish that makes me say “when does the cookbook come out?”
If you search through my posts you will find a lot of love for La Santa Barbacha. I take people there on food tours and push them out all over my socials including this YouTube video. While I think they have the best breakfast taco in Austin(spoiler alert: must love beef) the lamb barbacoa is frankly waaay better. I begged them to put this on their regular menu.
Generally speaking, vegetables in Ice Cream is a “wow you pulled it off food”. In the case of Uchiba and their work with the Refugee Collective Farm, its more of a “give chocolate a rest and expand your horizons”. First off the farm is a remarkable program that offers refugees work at an organic farm. Uchiba, an Izakaya offering from the formidable Uchi restaurant group makes Willy Wonka level magic to create a carrot sorbet that was a treat to eat as much as it was to photograph.
I was happy to have the chance to go but I walked away more impressed. Bonus points for partnering with great farms and the size of the festival was perfect. Very little wait times and plenty of food and drink. I will absolutely be there next year.
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