The 2009 Austin City Limits Music Festival is shaping up to be the best yet, with cooler weather, lush green grass, a very solid lineup, and perhaps finest crop of food vendors ever assembled…This ain’t yer daddy’s “state-fare” of turkey legs and funnel cakes…We’re talkin gourmet, Austin-style goodness…even vegetarians have options….and so here’s the…

Taco Town Approved Grub at ACL Fest:

Hudson’s on the Bend
Hot & Crunchy Cone: Shrimp/Chicken/Avocado
NEW! Purple Pig Cone: braised pulled pork w/ purple slaw & horseradish sauce

Mesa Verde Grill
Quesadillas: Spinach Mushroom, Chipotle Chicken or Steak
Smoked Wings with Sweet BBQ or Mango Habenero Sauce

Torchy's Green Chile Pork taco

Torchy’s
Green Chili Pork Taco
Potato Bean Green Chili Taco
Trailer Park Taco

Wahoo’s
Blackened Fish Tacos
Grilled Chicken Tacos
Burritos: Fish/Chicken/Veggie

Moonshine
Fried Fish Tacos w/ Jicima
Lunar Burrito

We entered the fest for our 4th year in a row.. put in 2 salsas – The Chappy’s green tomatillo sauce and an expirimental Peach/Habanero/Red Pepper salsa for the Special Variety class… no prize this year, but we had a blast anyway.. The music was good, the lines were manageable, the beer was cold..and the salsas were a-plenty.. I kinda wish they would have the fest late-afternoon into the evening so that the heat would be more managable.. something tells me eating hot sauce in the mid-day sun could lead to cardiac arrest.

Fest judging results after the jump..
(Pace got 3rd place for People’s Choice Red Sauce? WTF?? )

Restaurant Category

Red Sauce

• 1st Place: Torchy’s Tacos
• 2nd Place: La Condesa
• 3rd Place: El Caribe

Green Sauce

• 1st Place: Los Lomas
• 2nd Place: El Sazon
• 3rd Place: Cuatro’s Restaurant

Special Variety

• 1st Place: Curra’s Grill
• 2nd Place: La Condesa
• 3rd Place: El Sazon

Individual Category

Red Sauce

• 1st Place: Twyla Wick
• 2nd Place: Michael Hutchinson
• 3rd Place: Robert Heady

Green Sauce

• 1st Place: Karen Kessel
• 2nd Place: Gary Peifer
• 3rd Place: Brett Appolito

Special Variety

• 1st Place: Burt Friedman
• 2nd Place: Jim Hoppers
• 3rd Place: Carol Castillo

Commercial Bottlers People’s Choice

Red Sauce

• 1st Place: Kala’s Kuisine – Curry Chipotle Sauce
• 2nd Place: Austin Slow Burn – Salsa Con Habanero
• 3rd Place: Pace – Pico de Gallo

Green Sauce

• 1st Place: Kala’s Kuisine – Mirchi Masala Salsa
• 2nd Place: Big Dawg’s Fire Rescue Jalapeno Hot Sauce
• 3rd Place: Tears of Joy 6th Street Green

Special Variety

• 1st Place: Tears of Joy – Tequila Lime Hot Sauce
• 2nd Place: Pepper Creek Farm – Island Flame
• 3rd Place: Kala’s Kuisine – Mango Chutney

Pepper Sauce

• 1st Place: Big Daddy’s Ass Burn Hot Sauce
• 2nd Place: Sgt. Pepper’s Tropical Tears Mango Hot Sauce
• 3rd Place: Big Dawg’s DNR

Commercial Bottlers – Judged by Celebrity Judges

Red Sauce

• 1st Place: Don’t Panic Hispanic
• 2nd Place: Tears of Joy 6th Red Salsa
• 3rd Place: Kala’s Kuisine Curry Chipotle Salsa

Green Sauce

• 1st Place: Tears of Joy 6th St. Green Sauce
• 2nd Place: Austin Slow Burn Salsa Verde
• 3rd Place: Kala’s Kuisine Mirchi Masala Salsa

Special Variety

• 1st Place: Aztexan Habenero Supreme
• 2nd Place: Tears of Joy August in Austin Hot Sauce
• 3rd Place: Austin Slow Burn Jerk Marinade

Pepper Sauce

• 1st Place: Aztexan Habenero Supreme
• 2nd Place: Tears of Joy August in Austin Hot Sauce
• 3rd Place: Austin Slow Burn Jerk Marinade

Sunday November 11th, 2008 • 2pm
Grego’s Place • Lockhart, TX (map)

This Sunday Afternoon, The Bozarth’s own Chappy’s Green Sauce will go for the three-peat, and there’s sure to be more challengers than ever.  There’ll be some acoustic tunes, grilled meat, and other shenanigans.  Feel free to bring the kiddos and friendly animals.  taco Town encourages everyone to get into the action, create you own salsa, pico, relish, compote, drizzle, etc…make it hot, make it mild, make Neil mad.  Just be there, gringos.

Official Rules: Register between 1pm and 3pm.  Bring at least 1 pint of sauce.  No meat or cheese in the sauces please. You must be present to win.  Secret ballots will be cast by all attendees.  Prizes will be awarded to the top three vote-getters.  Winners will be announced at 5:30pm

- cabeza/

• The Chronicle’s Hot Sauce Festival is this Sunday August 24

Its that time of year again.  The music is better (Heathens, Black Joe Lewis, etc), the judges are qualified (Robb Walsh, Tyson Cole) and the food vendors are tasty (Curra’s, Oaxacan Tamaleo, etc) For those wanting to compete – The rules have changed a bit- possibly because of the pepper scare (see below) – basically, you must have your salsa made in a commerical kitchen if you want the public to have a taste- but its NOT mandatory for the judging portion…that should cut the lines down considerably for the tasting tents.  It should be HOT too, so come prepared/ <More info> <Louis Black’s Diatribe>

• Be Careful…

…where you buy those fresh jalapeno’s for your salsa making projects this weekend- Mexican-grown peppers are the likely cause of the latest salmonella outbreak- and many smaller stores & restaurants are still serving them, according to reports…Cabeza has been eating copious amount of mexican peppers in order to build an immunity… <USA TODAY: Mexican peppers posing salmonella risk still being sold>

• Over-Hyped but Under-Sold?

Our doppelgangers at Taco Journalism recently did a piece on Austin’s most over-hyped tacos.  While I applaud their excellent use of “no mames” (and am aware of the very real dangers of hipster hype), I should also point out that “over-hyped” doesn’t necessarily mean bad food.  Notorious hipster havens  Torchy’s & El Chilito actually DO have some of the best and most adventurous tacos in this town. AND I for one refuse to let hype, price, or hipsters OR Yuppies stand in my way of a good taco.  Alas, i’ve always scratched my head about taco shack’s breakfast taco (especially the chorizo= dogfood)…i guess its the safe, gringo gateway drug into the sleazier (and more rewarding) side of tacos.  yuppy-gringo hype….I DO like their crispy beef tacos, though.

-cabeza

I usually try to take care of my food needs before I hit a festival…if the lines and high prices arent enough, the food quality can be likened to a mall food court (think: $10 stir fry or $8 fajita wraps)..but all my preconceptions changed when I tried the chicken cone from Hudson’s on the Bend at ACL Fest….

Hot and Crunchy fried chicken, wrapped in a tortilla, with a base of jalepeno cole slaw.. and drizzled with a chipotle cream sauce of some sort..all nestled in a paper cone that makes it easy to eat and walk to the next stage… its the best festival food ever.. trust me.. and at only $6, I usually forget all about the music, plant my ass on a picnic table and eat chicken cones till the money runs out.