The Austin Oyster Festival returns for its 8th year, offering the ocean’s most delicious bite in a shell by serving up a bounty of chef-prepared oysters, seafood dishes, cocktail pairings and entertainment, benefiting the Central Texas Food Bank.  This year’s Oyster Festival will highlight Gulf and East Coast oysters prepared by noted Austin Executive Chef’s Chris Bauer and Tray Horvath, combined with an extravagant Bloody Mary Bar, local beers from Brown Distributing, live local music with the sounds of The Blue Mist, Lost Pines, Chansons Et Soulards and amazing raffle prizes.

For Oyster Lovers

The Austin Oyster Festival Raw Bar includes Austin Seafood Oysters selection of small harvest Texas gulf oysters and pristine northeastern coast oysters. The Grill Bar features to-die-for smoked bacon Oysters Rockefeller, fresh grilled oysters with roasted garlic and anchovy butter, Creole barbecue butter shrimp on grilled garlic bread, and oyster and rock shrimp gumbo with Andouille sausage; and the Fry Bar includes a crispy oyster banh mi sandwich, New Orleans-style oyster and shrimp po’boys and more.

VIP Treatment

The VIP Lounge includes bites by Chef Shane Stark of Mongers Market + Kitchen, Le Politique, Chef Russell Dougherty of The Little Darlin’ and Chef Chris Bauer of Eddie V’s Edgewater Grill, as well as offerings from Nightcap, Salt Traders Coastal Cooking, Shore Raw Bar and Grill, and more. The lauded local chefs will present VIPs with private oyster tastings, alongside Deep Eddy Vodka cocktail pairings.

Cocktails and Dreams

The beverage menu for the event includes local favorite Deep Eddy 10-times-distilled vodka, as well as Deep Eddy Ruby Red Vodka, Deep Eddy Lemon Vodka and Deep Eddy Orange Vodka.  It wouldn’t be the Austin Oyster Festival without the lavish Bloody Mary Bar sponsored by Austin’s own Bloody Revolution, which includes all the extra fixin’s to make a personalized cocktail.  Also making a first-time appearance is Canned Oregon – the next wine experience from Stoller Family Estate.

Tickets

VIP admission is $115 per person; and general admission is $60 per person.  Advanced tickets for the Austin Oyster Festival are available at AustinOysterFestival.com, and may be purchased at the door on the day of the event, as available.   This event generally sells out in advance.

This year, the festival partners with Texas A&M Corpus Christi’s Harte Research Institute shell-recycling program, Sink Your Shucks. Volunteers will be on hand at the Austin Oyster Festival to pick up more than 5,000 pounds of oyster shells.