From celebrities to celebrations, cuisine to libations, Austin hosted the best of the best from around the city, world and nation.

By Molly McManus

Saturday, April 28:

The day began bright and early at Auditorium Shores with Tim Love’s hands-on grilling demonstration. I happened to be in the Alder Tent, admiring Top Chef judge Gail Simmons’ cooking lesson on easy food to prepare in the home. While Iron Chef and sushi master Masaharu Morimoto drew laughs, hoots and hollerin’ from the tent next door, Simmons catered her seminar to the mostly Texan audience. My mouth began to water (I hadn’t eaten yet) at the sight and smell of her steamed mussels. To complement, Simmons concocted Texas-size biscuits. As she added the ingredients one by one (chives, cheddar), she began to mix in the most important component: bacon. With desperate cries from the audience of, “More! More!” Simmons looked up.

“Wow,” she exclaimed. “You guys are feisty in the morning!”

Welcome to Texas.

For our lunch break, the Grand Tasting consisted of three large tents with more than 100 vendors, the food provided by all local establishments. My favorites? The organic tamales from the Gardener’s Feast, Henri’s artisan cheese, Cornucopia’s flavored popcorn, Terlato Wines’ white blend, Evolution and Alexander Valley’s Cyrus Bordeaux blend. And Zilk’s bacon-flavored hummus? Yes, please! I’ll also never forget Aurelia’s Spanish chorizo, which sent my mouth in to heavenly bliss.

Filled to the brim, the afternoon continued with scorching sun and windy weather, creating some difficulties for my next seminar on the allure of rosé with author and wine writer Mark Oldman. While the wine might have been a little warm and a bit dusty, I was still able to enjoy the experience.

“Pink doesn’t get enough respect,” explained Oldman, as we all sat with five different glasses of rosé in front of us.

He’s right. Rosé has gotten a bad rap and he was there to set the record straight. The first glass we tried was from a $70 bottle of Perrier-Jouët, a Champagne rosé that was by far my favorite. Oldman shared with us this helpful hint: The finer the bubble, the better the Champagne. The Perrier-Jouët was no exception to this rule. Oldman also provided us with some important food-pairing tips for rosé.

“There’s hardly a food that does not go with a rosé,” he clarified, a huge reason as to why it’s his favorite. However, he did have one suggestion: barbeque. He proposed bringing a chilled bottle of rosé on your next visit to the Salt Lick.

Feeling a little buzzed, I headed over to hear mixologists Jim Meehan and Nate Wales give a presentation on how to pair the right tequila with the right salt. The duo explained their shared desire to bring “a culinary style of drink to customers.” We tried a shot of tequila paired with a salted sangrita, which is a chaser consisting of citrus, spice, tomato and lime. We also tasted a to-die-for version of a Paloma salted with a Hawaiian pink rim.

“A cocktail is only as good as its weakest ingredient,” Meehan advised.

Basically, don’t use a sub-par liqueur if you are using top-shelf liquor; it ruins the drink.

With the heat of the day behind us, the Rock Your Taco Celebrity Chef Showdown was a night to remember. Held at Republic Square Park, nine of the nation’s top chefs competed with their variations of the taco. Tyson Cole, Masaharu Morimoto, Marcus Samuelsson, Jonathan Waxman, Tim Love, Tony Mantuano, Michelle Bernstein, Elizabeth Karmel and Christina Tosi all participated, making it entirely too difficult for me to decide. With each taco, I would exclaim, “This one’s the best!” Luckily, I wasn’t making the decision. So when Uchi’s Tyson Cole won with his pork jowl with grilled corn and cilantro taco, I was filled with Austin pride.

To cap off the evening, the soulful Mayer Hawthorne and The County performed an outstanding set, giving attendees a chance to dance off some of those taco calories. I left feeling alive and well, if not slightly weighed down.

Sunday, April 29:

TV personality, food writer and chef Andrew Zimmern gave a morning talk on global street food. He taught a Moroccan cooking lesson, creating a goat taco. See a trend here? A Cordon Bleu student assisted as Zimmern did some prepping.

“Beautiful!” he shouted as she rolled out some dough.

God, it’s great to see a chef all fired up about flour. When he gave the taco out to a lucky audience member, the man ate in silence. When Zimmern asked if he liked it, the man nodded.

Zimmern motioned to his own bald head, “Huge ego, low self-esteem. I’m on TV. You could be a little more excited,” he joked.

At one point during the talk, Zimmern mentioned he didn’t like walnuts. When asked why (after all, the man makes a living off of eating weird food) he responded, “I’m allowed to not like things, right? I mean, I like fermented raccoon anus.”

I guess you can’t argue with personal preferences.

That afternoon, Chef Michelle Bernstein made Spanish tapas. The hilarious Bernstein had nothing but compliments for Austin.

“You are the nicest, most jubilant people I’ve come across,” she said.

The Miami resident and restaurant owner admitted to Austin having a better culinary scene, gushing about all the food she had tried while visiting.

Bernstein made a lemon calamari and squid tapa placed on a bed of black rice, its color coming from octopus ink, which is actually quite flavorful. She gave different nutritional tips along the way, explaining, “I studied nutrition before I got [to be a chef], but then I tried foie gras.” (Foie gras is the fattened liver of a waterfowl.)

When Bernstein’s talk finished, I made my way to the Grand Tasting only to be reminded of the ridiculously good food and beverages that awaited me. Judge’s Hill’s braised pork, queso fresco and roasted corn dish was delightful, while Ranch 616’s Frito pie took me back to late nights at 7-Eleven. In a good way. My favorite was Beanito’s chips, which are made from actual beans. They also happened to be topped with mouth-watering pulled pork. Majestic Fine Wines had a chilled pinot noir that was incredible, and I received a lesson on different types of eggs from Vital Farms. Did you know that if an egg carton is labeled “cage-free/free-range,” the birds are actually completely overcrowded and indoors?

All in all, the Austin Food and Wine Festival was a complete blastorama. Besides the five pounds added to my midline and the excruciating sunburn on my back, I left the festival with a ton of new knowledge, ideas for cooking at home, wine I need to purchase and restaurants to try, feeling more connected than ever to the culinary community of Austin.

Let’s do this. Let’s make 2012 in Austin, TX, the Year of the Giving Man.

OK, Austin men, let’s all pick something of personal passion and purpose and give to it. Give to it with love and enthusiasm and commitment. There is no question that our nation is struggling to find its purpose again while Americans are, for the most part, getting up each day and trying to do the best they can for their families, companies, organizations and the communities in which they live and work. The American people have the will and the can-do spirit to get us moving again, even if our elected leaders are too busy getting re-elected to recognize that we find most of them self-serving, out of touch and frankly, boring. But I digress.

So men and women, ATX Man magazine has agreed to be the central communications portal for the Year of the Giving Man. (Since this magazine is named ATX Man, I am giving a shout out to you Austin men in particular.)

Here is how it will work: During the next three months (December through February), simply state what your giving commitment will be in 2012 and send your pledge to atxman.com/givingmanpledge, where it will be posted throughout the year. I would also encourage you to challenge your friends and colleagues to do the same. Women are welcome to make the pledge, so come on, all of you wives, mothers, daughters, sisters, girlfriends and admirers of Austin men, tell us what you are going to give in 2012.

This is how I plan to contribute: I am most passionate about the American Dream. The American ideal is that here in America, if you can dream it, with hard work, purpose, relentless energy and some help from mentors, you can go out there and build a business and make a living doing what you love to do. To reiterate, if you can dream it then you can do it! My heroes are the mobile vending entrepreneurs. So last year I joined
forces with RISE Global, a nonprofit program dedicated to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs, and gave a “Don’t Do Mild” startup grant to a wonderful young entrepreneur who had to compete with hundreds of others for the most compelling new idea for a business. I have now decided that as part of the Year of the Giving Man, I am going to give another “Don’t Do Mild” grant in 2012 and help another would-be entrepreneur start his or her company.

So take up the challenge and we will all be better for it. You guys pick something, something you are passionate about, somewhere that you can make a difference. Help build a new neighborhood park.
Volunteer in schools teaching young people about whatever you love. Give to the Trail of Lights for 2012 so that next year, we can bring this great tradition back. Give your time and love to a senior or the Humane Society. Give more time and love to your family or friends. There are so many ways to give of your time, your talent and your treasure. The only requirement is that you give to something or someone you love or feel passionate about, and you have to sign a Giving Man pledge. At the end of 2012, go to the ATX Man website and tell us how you delivered on your Giving Man pledge, or you have to fess up that you messed up.

We will join together this time next year to celebrate all of the wonderful things that have happened as a result of the generosity shown in 2012, in this year of the Giving Austin Man. Austin men (and women), are you up to the challenge? Sign up today. Make that commitment. Let’s do some giving this year!

AW Media was curious and excited <http://www.atxman.com/the-one-3>  about how Samuel Adam’s crowd-sourced beer would taste. The brewery recently teamed up with social media expert Guy Kawasaki to poll fans and create a “crowd-sourced” dream beer before this year’s festival.

Samuel Adams called its new invention the “B’Austin Lager,” and released it to SXSW crowds at Stubbs during the annual Guy+Girl Party. The verdict? An absolutely delicious, perfectly satisfying, can’t-wait-till-I-see-it-on-tap beer. It’s a medium-bodied, slightly hoppy brew with a hint of spice and a nutty finish. I never though I’d agree with the masses more!

Keep your eyes peeled: Samuel Adams will be giving out their beer at various locations around town this week. After that, the B’Austin lager will be available in select pubs across central Texas.”

As a festival newcomer, I was excited to see how much panels differed in content, and how creative some got with their presentations. Two of my favorites dealt with men in media – more specifically, daddies who blog and “douchebags” behind the camera.

At Not Your Mommy’s Blog: The Evolution of Dad Blogs, mom and dad media moguls came together to discuss the cultural impact of “Dad Blogs” such as DadCentric.com  <http://www.dadcentric.com> . Panelists agreed that a slumping economy has led to an increase in dad blogs, but also agreed that dad blogs will never wield the clout or influence that Mom Blogs have. For starters, more women read Dad Blogs than men ( maybe, as an audience member noted, that’s because women are naturally more empathetic than men and turn to blogs to commiserate).

The conversation shifted toward the importance of personal branding and entrepreneurial efforts, and how bloggers should be aware that this is just as important as good writing. Bloggers’ endorsements are more influential than celebrity endorsements, explained a panelist, and their roles in marketing are yet to be fully realized. “Social Media is key,” explained veteran blogger Catherine Conners. “We’re in an age where anything we put out there must be a conversation, not a broadcast.” The final point? Most men have a lot to learn communication-wise before they can become a successful Dad Blogger.

“Dad Blogs” was tidy, organized and informative, and I was hoping that The Evolution of Douchebags in Modern Cinema would follow suit. Why are women so obsessed with the Rhett Butlers and Bradley Coopers of the world, anyways?

But after an opening 20-minute speech about Thomas Edison, many audience members started to leave the panel. The moderator began arguing with the professor, and one panelist even took a call. Finally, Slate.com writer and social commentator Dan Kois began pouring himself straight whiskey and leaving the room intermittently.

It took the audience a while to get the joke: real live douchebags are every bit as bad as they are in the movies, but, we kind of love how shocking they are. We didn’t learn much (except that it’s OK to hate Gerard Butler). “

2012 event benefits No Kid Hungry.

By Nicole Carbon

Mark your calendars! Tickets are on sale for one of the biggest foodie events of the year, taking place April 14 at the Four Seasons Hotel Austin. The Wine & Food Foundation will present the 27th annual Rare & Fine Wine Auction. This year, the Foundation has refocused its vision.

“We are changing our mission to use our passion for wine and food to give back to the health, wealth and benefit of our community,” says Marshall Jones, executive director.

This black-tie event includes a live auction featuring a 100-plus lot of superior and collectable wines, including such donations like a 9-liter bottle of Special Selection by Caymus Vineyards.

What makes this year’s event so special is the Foundation’s commitment to giving back to the community through grants and scholarships. The Foundation is donating a minimum of $25,000 to Texas No Kid Hungry, a new beneficiary for the Foundation. A seven-time grantee is the Texas Sommelier Association’s Texcom Conference, providing education to more than 300 wine-industry professionals and sommeliers. The Foundation partners with the Stephan Pyles Culinary Scholarship, granting one lucky culinary student a $15,000 scholarship. This is one of the country’s largest culinary scholarships and through their partnership with the Foundation’s auction, about $175,000 has been awarded thus far.

This event, spanning more than a quarter century has “evolved in to a party featuring fabulous food and drinks with an auction going on in the background,” Jones explains.

In addition to the live wine auction, there is a large silent auction of rare and fine wines, dinners, wine-country vacations and more, making this annual, always-sold-out event a must-do!

Tickets are on sale now for $250 per seat or $2,500 per table of 12. For more information, visit winefoodfoundation.org/events/events/details/340-RFW%202012.

As we complete our first year of ATX Man with the spring issue, it seems natural that the Giving Man Pledge would become part of our fabric and our mission. When we launched, we wanted to include stories that would reach out and touch everyone in Austin. Initially, doors opened because of the affiliation with Austin Woman, allowing ATX Man to come in to its own. Austin has embraced ATX Man and I am grateful to our advertisers, readers and to the men who have allowed us to tell their inspiring and unique stories. I feel so lucky to meet these people who make Austin great. For example, I looked at our cover man in this issue, Turk Pipkin, and I thought I knew him. He is huge—literally and figuratively. You can’t miss Turk when he comes into a room. When I read his story, I realized that there was so much I didn’t know about Turk, his accomplishments, his projects and the evolution of his passion for giving. Turk Pipkin embodies the spirit of the Giving Man Pledge.

In our first cover story, Roy Spence was quoted as saying, “The spirit of Austin fosters and celebrates creativity and encourages entrepreneurial types to take a risk and try something new. We are a city of dreamers with big ideas.” And so the conversation began as we risked thinking outside the box to create a magazine celebrating the ideas and dreams of the men of Austin. This issue also recognizes and celebrates the entrepreneurial soul of Austin and those willing to take risks to live their dreams and big ideas. Join us by making a commitment to the city we all love.

Visit atxman.com to join in the conversation and make a commitment to Austin via the Giving Man Pledge. At the end of 2012, together we will celebrate our pledges made from passion, dreams and ideas large and small. I wear my Giving Man band every day as a constant reminder to continue the conversation. The next time you see me, please ask, “What is that gray band you are wearing?” and be prepared for a lengthy conversation that begins with a huge smile.

Christopher Garvey
Co-founder and Publisher
Photo by Korey Howell

Event: Sam Adams’ Crowd-Sourced Craft Beer Release, March 10 at The Guy + Girl Party at South by Southwest
The brewmasters at Samuel Adams not only love beer, they love a good idea. In 2011, they proved it by establishing their entrepreneurial program Brewing the American Dream, as good ideas and good beer often share similar spaces. Now, the Samuel Adams brewers have teamed up with social-media enthusiast Guy Kawasaki to create the first-ever crowd-sourced beer. They called on social-media followers to weigh in on aspects of a beer, from color and clarity to the flavor profile. This crowdcrafted beer will debut at Kawasaki’s Girl + Guy party on March 10 during a well-known annual interactive festival. Combining social media and drinking, how American. Check out #GirlGuyParty for more info.

App: Pocket Cloud
PocketCloud is eons ahead of any other free cloud app. Enjoy unsurpassed connectivity options, security and reliability, and fast performance on Wi-Fi and 3G/4G networks. Now you can access all your files with PocketCloud. Users can make an important presentation, grab a forgotten report or edit and email a spreadsheet while traveling light. After you experience the freedom that remote access allows, you’ll see why PCWorld named PocketCloud the best mobile cloud app for Android tablets. Read more and download at wyse.com.

Book: Entrepreneurial DNA, By Joe Abraham
For centuries, the mindset for entrepreneurs has been, “If it worked for one entrepreneur, it will work for every entrepreneur. After all, entrepreneurs are all the same.” But are they? Sure, we can intuitively deduce that not everyone is a Richard Branson or a Donald Trump, and not everyone innovates like the late Steve Jobs, but is there more to it than meets the eye? Entrepreneurial DNA proves there are massive implications to how each individual is wired as an entrepreneur. It shatters the archaic notion that one size fits all and allows each reader to discover his or her unique DNA. The book has met ecstatic critical acclaim for its proven techniques that help readers maximize their personal and business potential.

CD: New Multitudes
In celebration of country star Guy Clark’s 70th birthday, many singers have come together to record a loving tribute to him—and his fans. Artists such as Lyle Lovett, Willie Nelson, Rosanne Cash, Emmylou Harris, Shawn Colvin and Robert Earl Keen have recorded 30 tracks that were mastered by Austin engineer Fred Remmert. The two volumes include tracks like That Old Time Feeling, The Cape and Dublin Blues. Available on Amazon or at guyclark.com.

Gadget: Samsung 3D Wi-Fi Converter
This Blu-ray player is Wi-Fi enabled to connect to other devices through your home network and up-converts 2D, 3D, 3D Blu-ray units to work with both active and passive screens, and automatically converts 21:9 aspect ratio movies to 16:9 aspect, eliminating those annoying black bands crowding the scenes. The modern and minimal body can be wall-mounted, standing 1.5 inches tall in a matte gunmetal with a transparent disc-reader. More than a home theater accoutrement, it’s equipped with AllShare, which syncs your digital devices so you can enjoy music, movies and photos from your PC, camera and mobile devices on the TV. $399, available at samsung.com.

March 15 – 17
Only an event as all-powerful as South By Southwest could afford to throw a free festival-within-a-festival. They’ll spare no luxuries: In addition to bigname bands and a smorgasbord of food and drink, arts and crafts vendors will be there to indulge any craving your short-circuited festival-going body may be begging for. Shuttle service between the Austin Convention Center at Second and Trinity Streets and Auditorium Shores will run Thursday and Friday from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., and Saturday from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m., and it’s free for badge holders.

Other Upcoming Shows:

• Doobie Brothers, March 27, Moody Theater
• Jerry Jeff Walker, March 31, Paramount Theatre
• Experience: Hendrix, March 25, Moody Theater
• Toadies, April 7, Stubb’s
• Umphrey’s Mcgee, April 20, Stubb’s
• Black Keys, April 25, Frank Erwin Center
• Feist, April 26, Stubb’s
• Tom Petty, May 5, Frank Erwin Center
• M83, May 18, Stubb’s

Central Texas Beer Fest

April 21 at the Austin Music Hall
The Central Texas Beer Fest is a fun, relaxing place for beer aficionados to meet the growing number of Texas Independent Brewers and try their best beers. Brewers include Independence Brewing Company, Hops & Grains, New Republic and many more. In addition, the festival will include local Austin vendors offering a wide variety of food—some to be enjoyed with specific beers. The event will benefit the Capital Area Food Bank, austinfoodbank.org, by collecting food and cash donations. centexbeerfest.com.

Old Settler’s Music Festival

April 19 – 22 at the Salt Lick Bar-B-Que Pavilion at Camp Ben McCulloch
Two dozen bands on four stages, it’s a festival-cum-campout at the lush Camp Ben McCulloch. oldsettlersmusicfest.org.

Eeyore’s Birthday Party

April 28 in Pease Park
A costume and sunscreen are really the only requirements at Eeyore’s. For 49 years, this event has remained Austin incarnate, staffed by volunteers and benefiting nonprofits. eeyores.org.

David Sedaris

April 23, 7 p.m. Paramount Theatre
It’s one thing to read David Sedaris; his dark satire manages to make death by cigarettes, meth addiction and drowning mice seem quintessentially American. It’s a completely different thing to be read to by David Sedaris. Sandwiched between his absurdity and irreverence are insights in to our lifestyle on par with Updike or Roth. He recollects trivial events with a careful comedic restraint, a task that, as many writers know, is near impossible. In person, he’s smallish, humble and astonishingly unpretentious, and being able to place him, his nuances and his voice in the context of his stories will give his work a dimension you’ll come to depend on. austintheatre.org.

Austin 10/20

April 15, 8 a.m.
A 10-mile run is hard, but the Austin 10/20 makes it easier by placing 20 bands along the route. Unlike other races, this course is flat and fast, weaving around the hills that give many out-of-towners trouble. The event is fully supported by plenty of SAG wagons along for the ride. Finish the day with a concert by Everclear and a barbecue picnic in a beer garden (lighter options available for the sensitive of stomach). Visit the Austin 10/20 website for a full list of bands and registration details.

Wall-to-wall basketball for weeks on end? “Madness” somehow fails to capture it. There’s something telling about this year’s final playoff destination: New Orleans, where the party never ends. Kentucky’s Anthony Davis is making the team a strong favorite this year for his shot-blocking abilities, but commentators also are keeping their radars tuned to the Baylor Bears and Perry Jones III. But as we know, anything goes.
The Sweet 16: March 22 – 23
The Elite 8: March 24 – 25
The Final Four: March 31
Final Playoff: April 4, New Orleans

The Best of the Rest

Opening Day of Major League Baseball
April 4 (St. Louis Cardinals at Miami Marlins),
April 6 (Rockies at Houston Astros and White Sox at Texas Rangers)

Masters Golf Tournament

April 5 – 8, Augusta National in Augusta, GA

Kentucky Derby

May 5 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, KY

Indy 500

May 27 at the Indianapolis Speedway, Indianapolis, IN