Chef Stephanie Izard, Chef Giuseppe Tentori, Chef Shon Foster & Doemens Beer Sommelier Gary Valentine Join Chef Rusty Hamlin at Southern Ground Music & Food Festival Nashville, Sept 27/28

 
Zac Brown's Southern Ground Music & Food Festival in Nashville will pair Southern Ground Executive Chef Rusty Hamlin with some of the country's most innovative culinary stars including Chefs Stephanie Izard, Giuseppe Tentori, and Shon Foster. It’s also the first music festival to feature a beer sommelier with the addition of Chicago's Gary Valentine. This year's event will introduce a brand new "Foodie" ticket that, in addition to general festival admission, offers exclusive access to chef demos, signature dishes, and VIP viewing areas. Presented by Landshark Lager, the festival will be held at The Great Lawn at Riverfront Park on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 27 and 28. Starting July 24 at 10am CT, Foodie tickets are available for purchase – or as an upgrade for existing ticketholders – by calling Ticketfly: 877.4.FLY.TIX (435.9849).

Saturday's schedule for Foodie ticketholders will begin with cooking demos, Q&As and meet-and-greets with both Izard and Tentori, as well as "S'mores School" with Shon Foster. As part of the Foodie ticket, Chef Hamlin will emcee demos by both Izard and Tentori, who will also prepare an exclusive menu at the festival's Listening Room Café. Izard, of the Chicago restaurants Girl & The Goat and Little Goat, is the James Beard Foundation's 2013 "Best Chef: Great Lakes," a Food & Wine "Best New Chef" and the first woman to win Bravo's "Top Chef." She will serve a favorite from her restaurant Little Goat, a "Sloppy Goat" sandwich made with Illinois farm-raised goat topped with rosemary slaw served on a freshly baked roll. Tentori, also a Food & Wine "Best New Chef," is the Michelin-starred executive chef of Chicago's GT Fish & Oyster and Boka restaurants. He'll prepare oyster po'boy sliders with kimchi and peanuts, a dish named one of the James Beard Foundation's Top 10 of 2011. Foster, Executive Chef at Utah's Amangiri Resort (named one of the "World's Best Hotels 2013" by Travel & Leisure in January 2013 and nominated to "The Best Food Lover's Hotels in America by Bon Appetit in May 2013), will curate the "S'mores School" with his unique twist on the dessert favorite including handcrafted ingredients such as homemade flavored marshmallows, dark chocolate, and organic, salt-cured bacon all prepared over an open fire.

Foodie ticketholders will also have access to the Foodie Tent, an exclusive, covered lounge with elevated views of the main stage. Here, they'll enjoy a gourmet dinner buffet, including beer and wine pairings, plus a full bar.

All attendees will have access to concessions including food from the Southern Ground Social Club (Zac Brown's pork-and-greens sandwich), Zac Brown Band's mobile kitchen Cookie (Chef Rusty's Jambalaya), as well as cuisine from James Beard Award winner RJ Cooper's new restaurant project Gypsy Soul and The Watermark's Bob Waggoner, host of the new PBS show "Sing For Your Supper." Other gourmet vendors include Nashville's The Southern Steak & Oyster and Jeni's Ice Cream (who will create a custom flavor for the festival).

The Nashville event will welcome beer sommelier Gary Valentine, who will suggest beer pairings for all festival food, such as Goose Island Pere Jacque with Chef Izard's "Sloppy Goat" sandwich. Said Valentine, "There's an incredible selection of dishes from all of the chefs at this festival, and I want to help them bring the whole culinary experience to another level with the perfect beer pairings." Valentine studied at the World Brewing Academy and Munich's Doemens Academy and served as the first U.S. representative in the Beer Sommelier World Championship. He will also curate the festival's Craft Beer Tent featuring a diverse assortment of today's most unique brews.

The festival's musical lineup includes Willie Nelson and Family, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Eli Young Band, Kacey Musgraves, The Head and The Heart, Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue, Dawes, Blackberry Smoke, The Wood Brothers, and others. Zac Brown Band's nightly "Super Sets" will feature sit-in performances by John Fogerty and Jason Mraz, with other iconic names to be announced soon.

Southern Ground Music & Food Festival is promoted by JAM, Outback Concerts and Sound Events, and is produced by JAM, Outback Concerts and ROAR.

http://www.southerngroundfestival.com
 
For more information on Zac Brown Band, please contact Elizabeth Lutz (elutz@shorefire.com), David McTiernan (dmctiernan@shorefire.com), or Rebecca Shapiro (rshapiro@shorefire.com) at Shore Fire Media, 718.522.7171 or Liz Norris (media@roar.la) at ROAR, 310.424.7800.

For more information on the festival, please contact Stefanie Porolniczak (stefanie@outbackconcerts.com) at Outback Concerts, 615.242.3232.