After a tumultuous year for the food and beverage industry, the Southern Smoke Foundation is ready to once again raise funds to support local restaurant workers and others across the country with its annual festival.

On October 5, Houstonians and visitors alike will flock to Discovery Green to get a glimpse of the culinary talent of more than 70 participating chefs. And to shake things up, this year’s festival will boast a slew of new additions, including a Yeti Culinary Demo stage, cookbook signings, wine bar pop-ups, a new VIP area, and the majority of the 2024 class of Food and Wine’s Best New Chefs.

“We don’t like to be bored,” says Lindsey Brown, executive director of Southern Smoke, who cofounded the organization in 2015 with her husband and famous chef Chris Shepherd. “We’re always looking for a way to provide more value for our ticket holders. We always want to do something new and interesting.”

Brown says the idea to have the Yeti Culinary Demo stage came from the fact that Discovery Green already has an existing small stage, separate from the main stage where a band will be playing. Six different chefs will use this stage to demonstrate their 20-minute dishes; YouTube personality and former Bon Appétit star Brad Leone will be the emcee.

Christina Tosi, founder of dessert and bakery chain Milk Bar, will demo a chocolate peanut butter crunch pie. Mason Hereford, the chef-owner of Turkey and the Wolf, a sandwich shop in New Orleans, will make a fried bologna sandwich. Tavel Bristol-Joseph, pastry chef and partner of Emmer & Rye in Austin, will bring johnnycakes to the stage. A star duo will demo Alaskan halibut flautas together: Ana Castro of Acamaya in New Orleans and Fermin Nuñez from Este and Suerte in Austin. Finally, Pat Martin of Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint in Nashville is set to demo a fried tomato sandwich.

Castro is particularly excited about getting to craft the flauta dish alongside Nuñez, who has been an inspiration to her. Castro says they chose flautas because the dish is so hands-on, it adds to the fun. She compares it to preparing for a party: you have to give multiple people a task, such as making the crema, rolling the tortillas, and then frying them, among other steps. Castro notes that the goal was to present something tactile, while also reminding the audience just how fun cooking is.

“There should be an ease to cooking,” Castro says. “I want people to reconnect with the joy of cooking.”

For Hereford, being involved with the festival is important because of how much the foundation helps those who are in the industry, especially in a time of crisis. His demo dish, the bologna sandwich, is one he knows like the back of his hand. He doesn’t have to think too hard about it, yet it’s fun, simple, and easy to replicate at home. But don’t let the simplicity fool you—Hereford says he has a few tricks up his sleeve that will help onlookers not only elevate the sandwich if they choose to make it at home, but also their own cooking.

The festival is one of Bristol-Joseph’s favorite events to go to every year because it gives him a chance to connect with the chef community while having fun and raising funds for a good cause.

“You don’t really get a lot of events that satisfy both your personal and professional [lives] so with Southern Smoke’s event, it taps into every button for me,” Bristol-Joseph says.

His demo dish—the johnnycakes with Deer Creek cheddar foam and corn and pepper relish—brings him back to the beginning of his restaurant’s story. He says it was so popular when Emmer and Rye opened that it was brought back on the menu, so he can’t wait to share it with even more people at the festival.

Brown says festivalgoers will be getting lots of bang for their buck with other new exciting things this year (general admission is $225; VIP is $500). The Lexus VIP area will be inside the Grove, Discovery Green’s restaurant, which is great as Houston will still be hot this weekend. It will also be the first time the festival will have chefs within the VIP area, including Billy Durney of Red Hook Tavern, Kate McLean from Tony’s, and pastry chef Paola Velez, of Bakers Against Racism fame, making desserts. VIP attendees will also be able to indulge in a drink made by Alba Huerta, Julep’s owner, who's bartending the area.

Those with general admission tickets will have a chance to beat the heat with the Central Market Wine Bar, located inside Discovery Green’s Lake House. Here, guests will find local wine bar pop-ups from Lees Den, Montrose Cheese and Wine, 13 Celsius, and the Library. Participating out-of-towners include Bacchanal from New Orleans, Lolo from Austin, Oakwood Pizza Box from Raleigh, North Carolina, and the Roots Fund—a nonprofit that helps the BIPOC community find a path within the wine industry.

The bars will be overseen by Travis Tober, owner of Austin bar Nickel City; Justin Ware from Houston’s Johnny’s Gold Brick; and Sean Umstead, co-owner and beverage director of Kingfisher in Durham, North Carolina.

This year, Southern Smoke has also partnered with Kindred Stories, a bookstore in Third Ward, to sell books in the merchandise tent. The store will host cookbook signings, so attendees can have their favorite chefs sign their books.

Brown says the festival is the foundation’s largest annual fundraiser of the year—in 2023, it raised $1.8 million—and the support this year is especially important given the harmful storms Houstonians have had to endure, including the derecho and Hurricane Beryl.

“Every single dollar that we raise at the festival is desperately needed for the Houston community and the food and beverage community as a whole,” Brown says.