My superwoman sister-in-law Lauren volunteered for the Atlanta Food & Wine Festival in Midtown last week (just a couple days after returning from their honeymoon, mind you), and she was gracious enough to offer up her 2 free passes for the last day of the event.
I love food and cocktails, and I love it even more when it’s free. So how could we say no (especially considering that
passes were $100+ per person each day)?

The tasting tents were PACKED to the max with people, food, drinks, and more people.

Being in the South, there was a lot of BBQ. And Bourbon.

Shrimpies and crawfish!

One of my favorites of the day… Frito Pie from Fox Bros. BBQ! I already know that I love Fox Bros, so I didn’t really have to try their food…
until I saw brisket chili being scooped into bags of Fritos. Yep. Messy and delicious.

Excuse the blurry photo, but this is Kevin Gillespie from Top Chef! He has an awesome beard. 

We tasted some fried chicken sammies from his booth and they were one of my other favorites of the day.
The chicken was marinated in pickle juice!

M.E.A.T. and lots of it. I’m not even sure what any of this was.

Mini Sublime donuts? Yes! I should have taken one of each. 

The festival was such a fun way to end our week. A torrential downpour kept us all crowded under the main tent for a bit, but other than that, we had a great time. Craig’s favorite were the fried chicken livers — so much so that he went back for seconds and was still talking about them last night. We can’t remember which restaurant they were from… maybe Magnolia’s in South Carolina? We may never know. My faves were Kevin Gillespie’s fried chx sammies, the mini Sublime donuts, and the Frito Pie from Fox Bros. We also enjoyed tastings of Wolf Mountain wine, several bourbons, and craft beer. All quite yummy. I hope Lauren volunteers next year so we can go to the tasting tents again!  (he he) Thanks, Lauren!