Music City Food + Wine Festival Preps Second Year

Ken Levitan. Photo: Don VanCleave

Vector Management’s Ken Levitan, Andy Mendelsohn, C3 Presents, Kings of Leon and chef Jonathan Waxman kicked-off opening day of ticket sales for the Sept. 20-21 second annual Music City Food + Wine Festival at Nashville’s Peg Leg Porker yesterday (May 13).

Mayor Karl Dean welcomed the industry gathering, giving kudos to Levitan’s community involvement, noting his A+, tremendous work as a Nashville citizen.

“We are looking forward to building upon the success of the inaugural year with more chefs from Nashville and across the South,” Waxman continued. “The food should be even more exciting and diverse this year.”

Over 30 tasting sessions, cooking demonstrations, book signings and panel discussions are planned from national and local culinary experts, including Trisha Yearwood, for September afternoons at Public Square Park. A Harvest Night evening dinner will again bring signature dishes to the Walk of Fame Park. Music will pair with the evening’s dishes, curated by Kings of Leon.

Caleb Followill, Jonathan Waxman, Jared Followill, Nathan Followill. Photo: Don VanCleave

Ticket options include Single Day Passes ($150 per person), Harvest Night Pass ($225 per person) or All-In Pass ($500 per person). A full cooking demo schedule will be released in June. Panelists and moderators will be announced in July. The Grand Taste schedule will be available in August. A lineup of musical guests will be revealed in summer.

Read MusicRow‘s recap of the 2013 events here.

Chefs planned to attend September’s events include:
Sean Brock (Husk) and Lisa Donovan (Buttermilk Road & Husk Nashville)
Kahlil Arnold (Arnold’s Country Kitchen)
Roderick Bailey (The Silly Goose)
Matt Bolus (404 Kitchen)
Carey Bringle (Peg Leg Porker)
Tyler Brown (Capitol Grille)
Larry Carlile (Silo)
Trey Cioccia (The Farm House)
Daniel Dillingham & George Harvell (Loveless Café)
Matt Farley (The Southern Steak & Oyster)
Jay Flatley (Tavern)
Sarah Gavigan (Otaku South)
Robert Grace (Kayne Prime)
Josh Habiger (Pinewood Social)
Hal M. Holden-Bache (Lockeland Table)
John Lasater (Hattie B’s Hot Chicken)
Andrew Little (Josephine)
Pat Martin (Martin’s BBQ)
Todd Alan Martin (The Treehouse)
Margot McCormack (Marché & Margot Café & Bar)
Trevor Moran (Catbird Seat)
Arnold Myint (Suzy Wongs, PM, blvd)
 Deb Paquette (Etch)
James Peisker & Chris Carter (Porter Road Butcher)
Nick Pellegrino (Mangia Nashville)
Charles Phillips (1808 Grille)
Giovanni Francescotti(Giovanni Ristorante)
Barclay Stratton (Merchant’s Restaurant)
Tandy Wilson (City House)
Karl Worley (Biscuit Love Truck)

Celebrity chefs include:
Aarón Sánchez
Michael Symon
Tyler Florence
Andrew Zimmern

Regional chefs include:
North Carolina’s Ashley Christensen
Memphis’ Michael Hudman & Andy Ticer
South Carolina’s Mike Lata
Texas’ Tim Love
New Orleans’ Alon Shaya
Louisville’s Levon Wallace
Masaharu Morimoto
Jonathan Waxman
Frank Stitt
Amanda Freitag