Last week at SXSW, we got the chance to eat our way around one of our favorite food towns: Austin.
The music, film and interactive festival has increasingly become a hot-spot for top chefs and food world leaders from near and far. They come for SXSW’s SouthBites , the festival’s new vertical that explores all things culinary with a multi-day conference and a series of exclusive dinners.
If we had to pick a highlight of the week though, it was walking into the Jose Andres and ThinkFoodGroup Family Tree Pop-Up Dinner hosted at Paul Qui’s namesake restaurant, Qui . We were greeted Chef Andres sitting at a table slicing jamon onto a plate, topping it with caviar, and serving it straight up. And yes, it was as decadent as it sounds.
The jamon and caviar was just the start of it. The night featured several hat tips to Austin’s incredible food culture, from to salt air margaritas to tacos, fried oysters, and smoked Iberico ribs from Jose Andres and his friends. And of course, in true SXSW style, there was live music throughout the night.
Check out the slideshow to see what else we got to indulge in. We’re already dreaming up what SouthBites can do to top this next year.
Jamon, Caviar, and Jose Andres at SXSW
Jose Andres, the man of the hour, slicing up incredible jamon for guests at his SXSW pop-up dinner.
Guests freaked out (in a good way) over Michael Voltaggio’s octopus with octopus vinaigrette, charred eggplant, and olive croutons.
Ruben Garcia of ThinkFoodGroup served Iberico pork belly with mashed potatoes, Spanish truffles, and egg.
