Southern Smoke Festival Returns Saturday, Plates Out for Hospitality Workers
Chef Rodney Scott (photo by Hugh Galdones)
By Jeff Gremillion
Discovery Green again turns into a massive chef’s tasting this Saturday, with nearly 100 cooks and bartenders working the lawn for Southern Smoke.
The James Beard Award-winning foundation’s festival, presented by Sysco, returns Oct. 3 for an afternoon of bites, drinks and live music that funds emergency relief and no-cost mental health care for food and beverage workers nationwide. Tickets are on sale at southernsmoke.org.
General admission is $225 and gets in at 4 p.m. with food, drinks, the YETI Culinary Stage and cookbook signings. Lexus VIP is $550, with a 3 p.m. entry and an air-conditioned lounge at The Grove. Talent Supporter packages start at $5,000 and underwrite one chef’s food, gear and travel, with earlier access and a seat at the Oct. 1 welcome party.
The roster mixes first-timers and festival regulars. New to the lawn: Lindsay Autry of Honeybelle in Palm Beach, Tyson Cole of Uchi, Tiffany Derry, Brandon Jew of Mister Jiu’s, Serigne Mbaye of Dakar NOLA, and Daisy Ryan of Bell’s in Los Alamos, California. Alumni back for another round include Aaron Franklin, Chris Bianco, Nina Compton, Ashley Christensen, Mason Hereford, Ana Castro, and Houston’s own Chris Shepherd circle — Aaron Bludorn, Leonard Botello IV of Truth BBQ, Bryan Caswell, Manabu “Hori” Horiuchi, Rebecca Masson, Ryan Pera, Erin Smith and Patrick Feges, and Nick Wong among them.
Drinks come from Houston rooms such as Julep, Johnny’s Gold Brick, EZ’s Liquor Lounge and Reserve 101, plus out-of-town bars including Cure and Bacchanal in New Orleans and Dear Irving in New York.
Food & Wine’s 2026 Best New Chefs — still to be named — cook together for the first time in a Skadden-presented area. The YETI stage brings demos from Bianco, Isabel Coss, Kevin Fink and Tavel Bristol-Joseph, Genie Kwon and Tim Flores, and Evan LeRoy, with chef and YouTuber Brad Leone as emcee. Lexus VIP revives Respect the Rosé with Ryan Prewitt, Nicole Mills, Stephen Stryjewski, and Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman, plus bites from Derry, Sarah Grueneberg and Horiuchi. Kindred Stories handles cookbook sales and signings. Four Seasons Hotel Houston is the official hotel partner, with festival rates from $345 while rooms last.
Chef Chris Shepherd and executive director Lindsey Brown founded Southern Smoke in 2015. The group has granted more than $16.5 million and, since 2020, opened nearly 12,000 counseling sessions through its Behind You program. In 2026 it received a James Beard Foundation Impact Award.
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The scene downtown at Southern Smoke (photo by Daniel Ortiz)
Franklin BBQ (photo by Hugh Galdones)