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Southern Smoke Festival 2023 Raises $1.8M with Top Chefs & Live Music

Last updated on October 16th, 2024 at 09:10 pm

The Southern Smoke Festival 2023, presented by the Southern Smoke Foundation, is a two-day food and beverage celebration in Houston, TX that raises money for hospitality workers in crisis. This year, the festival raised $1.8 million!

Southern Smoke food festival with bbq

This article is a recap of The Throwdown 2023 event at Discovery Green in Downtown Houston, focused on Black chefs.

Note: This is not a sponsored post nor am I affiliated with this festival or its organizers.

Food at Southern Smoke Festival 2023

What attracted me to this Houston food festival was the variety in the chef and restaurant lineup. 

I sampled so many different types of food, including BBQ (and a lot of it), melon ice cream with sweetened red bean, fried catfish and lamb rotolo. 

There were several Black chefs that were a part of the festival lineup and they are listed in alphabetical order by last name or restaurant name.

1. Ope Amosu of ChòpnBlọk (Houston, TX)

Roadside poulet yassa

2. Angel Barreto of Anju (Washington, DC)

Melon soft serve ice cream with mochi, red bean, strawberries, condensed milk & Frosted Flakes

3. Tavel Bristol-Joseph of Canje (Austin, TX)

Beef & lamb kofta rotolo with yogurt and harissa

4. Nina Compton of Compère Lapin (New Orleans, LA)

Jerk pulled pork sliders

5. Greg Gatlin of Gatlin’s BBQ (Houston, TX)

Smoked gumbo boudain with sauteed okra

Smoked gumbo boudain with sauteed okra by Greg Gatlin of Gatlin's BBQ

6. Matt Horn of Horn BBQ (Oakland, CA)

Smothered oxtail on a bed of dirty rice

7. Brian Jupiter of Frontier (Chicago, IL)

Smoked duck andouille with pit smoked butter beans

Smoked duck andouille with pit smoked butter beans

8. Trill Burgers (Houston, TX)

OG Trill Burger combo with fries. And no, I didn’t see Bun B

9. Paola Velez of Bakers Against Racism (Washington, DC)

Tamarind pecan molasses panna cotta (gluten free)

10. Michelle Wallace of B’tween Sandwich Co (Houston, TX)

Fried catfish sando with smoked oyster mayo & hot sauce

Fried catfish sando with smoked oyster mayo & hot sauce. From Michelle Wallace of B'tween Sandwich Co

11. Chris Williams of Lucille’s (Houston, TX)

Pig potato salad

Pig potato salad by Chris Williams of Lucille's in Houston, TX

12. Erick Williams of Virtue (Chicago, IL)

Pulled Berbere spiced lamb with harissa & pikliz slider

Pulled Berbere spiced lamb with harissa & pikliz slider from Erick Williams of Virtue at Southern Smoke Festival 2023

Note: If I did not include my own food pictures for a chef or restaurant, it’s because:

  • The food ran out and/or wasn’t available when I got to the booth
  • A few of the lines were really long (100+ people)…and I did not want to miss out on other food
  • I couldn’t get good/clear enough pictures…because I generally take terrible pictures

Clay Williams (James Beard Award-winning food photographer and co-founder of Black Food Folks) was at the event, so check out @ultraclay for his pictures.

And if I missed anyone in this lineup, email hey [AT] profoodmaker [DOT] com.

Don't miss: Chopd & Stewd 2023 food festival celebrating West African culture at POST Houston

Overview of Southern Smoke Festival 2023

Locations & dates

Southern Smoke Festival took place Friday, October 13 and Saturday, October 14, 2023 at Four Seasons Hotel Houston and Discovery Green in Downtown Houston. 

Southern Smoke Festival live music at Discovery Green in Downtown Houston

Ticket prices & where tickets were purchased

There were two events: The Throwdown and Respect the RosĂŠ.

Tickets could be purchased from Eventbrite.

Southern Smoke Foundation posted an Instagram story that they would stop selling general admission tickets the afternoon of Friday, October 13. 

Respect the RosĂŠ and VIP tickets for The Throwdown sold out earlier.

So, keep this in mind for next year if you plan to buy tickets at the last minute.

The Throwdown

The Throwdown was the main event and took place Saturday afternoon, from 4 to 8 pm CT at Discovery Green in Houston.

Ticket prices were: 

  • $175 for general admission
  • $500 for VIP (1-hour early admission & access to the VIP seating area and gifts sponsored by Lexus)
Southern Smoke Festival. Hundreds of people in attendance. Golf cart on the right.

Respect the RosĂŠ

This upscale multi-course experience was hosted at the Four Seasons Hotel Houston, Friday night.

Ticket prices were:

  • $500 per seat
  • $5,000 per table (seats 10 people)
  • $7,500 for a VIP table with ‘special wines’ (seats 10 people)

About Southern Smoke Foundation

Started in 2015, the Southern Smoke Foundation is a nonprofit that has distributed over $11 million to food and beverage workers across the US.

Southern Smoke Emergency Relief Fund

The Emergency Relief Fund is a grant created to help food and beverage workers pay for living essentials (rent, groceries, etc) due to unforeseen crises such as Hurricane Harvey and the COVID-19 shutdown.

To learn more about the Emergency Relief Fund and apply or donate, visit the foundation’s website.

Southern Smoke Foundation. Want to help? Donate. One of the signs at the Southern Smoke Festival 2023.

Stay connected with Southern Smoke Festival & Southern Smoke Foundation

Website: southernsmoke.org
Instagram: @southernsmokefoundation
Twitter: @SouthernSmokeTX

This post was all about Southern Smoke Festival 2023 at Discovery Green in Downtown Houston.

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