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photography by rick kern/Wireimage (love); courtesy of taste of texas (croWd) Whole Lot of Love Food & Wine Festival coFounder TIM LOVE reveals this year's exciting line-up—and his neW austin eatery. by stirling kelso Things aren't slowing down anytime soon for chef Tim Love. Best known in Texas circles for his slew of Fort Worth restaurants—Lonesome Dove, Western Bistro, and the Woodshed, among others— Love also costars on CNBC's Restaurant Startup with Joe Bastianich and has a line of barbecue rubs and sauces. Now, his presence in Austin is growing: He's a founder of the capital's Food & Wine Festival, and he's opening a Lonesome Dove downtown in the former Kenichi space. The menu will feature some of his signature game dishes like rabbit-rattle- snake sausage and wild boar ribs as well as a few only-in-A-Town surprises. We chatted with Love about the new space and what's going to make this spring's Food & Wine Festival, now in its fourth year, the best to date. You're opening a second Lonesome Dove restaurant, this one in downtown Austin. Have you had Austin in your sights for a long time? I have. Since becoming a chef and cofounder of the Austin Food & Wine Festival, it's been in the plan to eventually open a restaurant here. It was just a matter of finding the right space and the right time. I didn't want to push it. I wanted to get more involved with the Austin community before I asked it to embrace me. All of the city's chefs have been amazing and inviting, and hopefully I can comple- ment what they're doing. So how will this new Lonesome Dove differ from the original Fort Worth Stockyards location? We have a lot of surprises that I don't want to share, but the spirit of the restaurant is going to be the same. I want it to fit the city's personality. People in Austin like to see out to the street, so it's a brighter restaurant with lots of windows. We're also building a tremendous limestone wine room that will have a 14 -top table. Since it will always be 55 degrees in there, we've designed beautiful cashmere ponchos and great suede vests for our diners to wear. Tim Love, a cofounder of the Austin Food & Wine Festival, plans to open a new outpost of Lonesome Dove downtown. right: The crowd at last year's Food & Wine Festival. FESTIVAL ESSENTIALS Dates: April 24–26. Events and tickets: The festival consists of two days of chef demonstrations and tastings at Auditorium Shores along with separate evening events at other locations. Some events can be purchased a la carte, such as the Lone Star State chef-focused Taste of Texas ($150) and the popular Rock Your Taco ($200) competition on Saturday night. The festival has changed its ticket structure; new this year is the $550 All-In ticket, which includes all Friday and Saturday events, including guaranteed seating at Tim Love's Grilling Demo. The $250 Weekender pass gets you in to the festival both days, but doesn't include evening events. Available for purchase separately are tickets to Thursday night's Feast Under the Stars ($225), during which fve chefs cook fve courses, shared family style, for 150 lucky diners. austinfoodandwinefestival.com 70 AUSTINWAY.com TasTe Food Fest