Houston Chef Chris Shepherd’s Southern Smoke Festival Returns for Its Biggest Year Yet

A star-stuffed lineup of 80 chefs from around the country will convene in Houston’s Discovery Green, offering unlimited bites, drinks, and cooking demonstrations

Southern Smoke Festival, Houston’s most prestigious food and wine festival, is returning to the city this fall, and it’s slated to be its biggest year yet.

Helmed by James Beard Award-winning chef Chris Shepherd, Southern Smoke will once again overtake Discovery Green on Saturday, October 4 for its ninth year, with more than 80 chefs from around the country offering unlimited bites and drinks, food demonstrations, live music, and giveaways.

This year’s lineup will feature more than 20 Houston chefs, including newcomers Adrian Torres of Maximo; Nicolas Vera and Stephanie Velasquez of Ema; and Morgan Weber of Eight Row Flint. It’ll also feature appearances from mixologists and wine experts from eight different cocktail bars and wine bars around the city, including 13 Celsius, the Library, and Montrose Cheese and Wine.

Claudia Casbarian

Dozens of chefs from around the country will also be present, including pitmaster Aaron Franklin of Franklin Barbecue, Damarr Brown of Chicago’s Virtue, and Katrina Ferraro and Freddy Diaz of Las Brasas in Austin.

Similar to last year, the Southern Smoke Festival will feature a showcase from Food & Wine’s 2025 Best New Chefs, who will cook together for the first time at the festival. Kindred Stories will sell cookbooks on-site, and the Lexus VIP area will spotlight eight new chefs, including Tavel Bristol-Joseph, Joanne Canady-Brown, Ana Castro, and Ashley Christensen.

Tickets are now on sale online. The all-inclusive general admission tickets ($225) include unlimited food, drinks, and live music, plus access to cookbook signings and demonstrations on the YETI Culinary Stage. Festivalgoers who purchase the Lexus VIP tickets ($550) will get early access to the festival at 3 p.m. and exclusive experiences, including access to the air-conditioned Lexus VIP lounge at the Grove, which offers a different set of curated bites, cocktails, wine, and giveaways. Talent sponsorships, which start at $5,000, are a two-fold experience: These high-spending customers help sponsor a chef at the festival, covering the cost of their food, equipment, and travel, and ticketholders get to skip the line with VIP access that allows them to enter the festival at 2:30 p.m. (They’ll also have access to the Chef Welcome Party held on October 2.)

Shepherd founded the Southern Smoke Foundation in 2015 to help his friend and former sommelier Antonio Gianola, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. He launched the festival in 2018 to aid food and beverage industry workers around the country who have experienced natural disasters, medical emergencies, accidents, or other unforeseen events. Since its inception, the foundation has granted more than $14 million to restaurant workers across the country.

Here’s what you can expect from Southern Smoke this year:

Participating Houston chefs include:

• Ope Amosu, ChòpnBlọk
• Aaron Bludorn, Bludorn, Navy Blue, and Bar Bludorn
• Leonard Botello IV, Truth BBQ
• Patrick Feges and Erin Smith, Feges BBQ
• Evelyn Garcia and Henry Lu, Jūn
• Greg Gatlin, Gatlin’s BBQ, Gatlin’s Fins & Feathers
• Levi Goode, Credence
• Alba Huerta, Julep
• Ryan Lachaine, Riel
• Rebecca Masson, Fluff Bake Bar
• Lucas McKinney, Josephine’s
• Trong and Cory Nguyen, Crawfish & Noodles
• Benchawan Jabthong Painter, Street to Kitchen
• Ryan Pera, Eight Row Flint
• Jason Ryczek, Little’s Oyster Bar
• Martin Stayer, Nobie’s, The Toasted Coconut, Quiote, Nonno’s Family Pizza Tavern
• Adrian Torres, Maximo, Houston
• Nicolas Vera and Stephanie Velasquez, Ema HTX, Houston
• Austin Waiter, the Marigold Club
• Morgan Weber, Eight Row Flint, Houston
• Robin Wong, Terry Wong, and Quy Hoang, Blood Bros. BBQ

Chefs making their Southern Smoke Festival debut include:

• Tyler Akin, Bastia, Philadelphia
• Brittanny Anderson, Metzger Bar and Butchery, Richmond
• Jeremiah Bacon, Indigo Road Hospitality Group, Charleston
• Bob Bennett, Zingerman’s Roadhouse, Ann Arbor
• Neal Bodenheimer, Cure, New Orleans
• Damarr Brown, Virtue Restaurant, Chicago
• Joanne Canady-Brown, The Gingered Peach, Lawrence Township
• Paul Carmichael, Kabawa, New York
• Valerie and Nando Chang, Itamae AO, Miami
• Wylie Dufresne, Stretch Pizza, New York
• Calvin Eng, Bonnie’s, New York
• Katrina Ferraro and Freddy Diaz, Las Brasas, Austin
• Caroline Glover, Annette and Traveling Mercies, Aurora
• Anthony Guerra, Oakwood Pizza Box and Tutti, Raleigh and Charleston
• Jason Hammel, Lula Cafe, Chicago
• Kyle Knall, Birch, Milwaukee
• Brian Lea and Leina Horii, Kisser, Nashville
• Dean Neff, Seabird, Wilmington
• Christina Nguyen, Hai Hai, Minneapolis
• Angie Rito and Scott Tacinelli, Don Angie and San Sabino, New York
• Rob Rubba, Oyster Oyster, Washington D.C.
• Lior Lev Sercarz, La Boîte, New York
• Amanda Shulman and Alex Kemp, Her Place Supper Club and My Loup, Philadelphia
• Eli Sussman, Gertrude’s, Brooklyn
• Ed Szymanski, Dame, Lord’s, and Crevette, New York
• Shuai and Corrie Wang, Jackrabbit Filly and King BBQ, Charleston

Returning chefs from around the country include:

• Stephen Barber, Farmstead, Napa
• Angel Barreto, Anju, Washington, D.C.
• Jamie Bissonette, 소맥 Somaek, Boston
• Tavel Bristol-Joseph, Canje, Austin
• Ana Castro, Acamaya, New Orleans
• Jeff Chanchaleune, Mar Der Lao Kitchen, Oklahoma City
• Ashley Christensen, Poole’s Diner, Raleigh
• Isabel Coss, Lutèce, Pascual, Washington, D.C.
• Cassidee Dabney, The Barn at Blackberry Farm, Walland
• Billy Durney, Hometown BBQ, Brooklyn
• Chelsea Fadda, Pecan Square Cafe, Austin
• Kevin Fink, Emmer & Rye Hospitality, Austin
• Tim Flores and Genie Kwon, Kasama, Chicago
• Sam Fore, Tuk Tuk Snack Shop, Lexington
• Aaron Franklin, Franklin Barbecue, Austin
• Sarah Grueneberg and Bailey Sullivan, Monteverde Restaurant and Pastifico, Chicago
• Mason Hereford, Turkey and the Wolf, New Orleans
• Chad Houser, Café Momentum, Dallas; Silver Iocovozzi, Neng Jr.’s, Asheville
• Joe Kindred, Kindred, Davidson
• Cheetie Kumar, Ajja, Raleigh
• Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel, Birdie’s, Austin
• Pat Martin, Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint, Nashville
• Joaquin Rodas, Bacchanal, New Orleans
• Caroline Schiff, Monday Diner, New York
• Rodney Scott, Rodney Scott’s BBQ, Charleston
• Lawrence “LT” Smith, Chilte, Phoenix
• Jason Stanhope, The Quinte Oyster Bar and Lowland, Charleston
• Sean Ulmstead, Kingfisher, Durham
• Erick Williams, Virtue Hospitality Group, Chicago
• Lee Anne Wong, Koko Head Cafe, Honolulu.

Participating wine and cocktail bars include:

• 13 Celsius, Houston
• Bacchanal, New Orleans
• Central Market, Texas
• Cure, New Orleans
• Eight Row Flint, Houston
• Graft, Charleston
• Johnny’s Gold Brick and Winnie’s, Houston
• Kingfisher, Durham
• The Library, Houston
• Montrose Cheese & Wine, Houston
• The Roots Fund
• Sonoma, Houston
• Stella’s Wine Bar, Houston
• Vin Santo, Houston

D. Ortiz

Insider tips for the best experience

• Make a game plan, and get there early. Using the festival’s list of chefs and restaurants, prioritize your favorites by visiting them first. Lines can be long, and some chefs run out of their dishes fast.
• Bring a disposable tray. Carrying various bites at once can be a balancing act. Some festivalgoers bring trays to help collect and carry the different dishes they’ll collect throughout the evening.
• Go to the festival hungry, and pace yourself. There’s a lot of food and drink to be had.

Southern Smoke Festival will be hosted at Downtown’s Discovery Green from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, October 4, 2025. VIP admission ($550) begins at 3 p.m. and general admission ($225) at 4 p.m. Tickets are available for purchase online. 1500 McKinney Street, 77010.