TRACY CANDIDO

Tracy Candido runs Supper Studio, a food + music event series. Her past projects include the renegade bake sale Sweet Tooth of the Tiger, experimental cooking class Community Cooking Club, and Food in Art at the Whitney Museum. She is also the founder of Lady Boss, an initiative for women in creative industries.

What was the food highlight of your year?

It's a tie! At work on the Airbnb SXSW experience, we worked with Austin-based Good Pops to make Glazed Donut with Hemp Milk custom popsicles based on our guest host, Snoop Dogg (they were the late night munchy snack at the popup park we built) – super creative and actually really, really delicious. Then later in the year, Supper Studio hosted chef Carolina Santos-Neves from Comodo and Colonia Verde who made a coconut-based smokey salmon ceviche with corn nuts for the performing musician Xenia Rubinos, connecting Xenia's super fun, weird and latin-folky jams with a dish that meets tradition with something new. Again, really creative and so freaking tasty.

What was the music highlight of your year?

Sleater-Kinney releasing tracks from their new record and announcing a 2015 tour (thank you riot grrl goddess) and Mirah playing a packed house as a pre-tour show at Supper Studio. Sleater-Kinney just speaks to my feminist punk soul and I can't wait to see them play this year. And I get some serious pleasure creating moving experiences for people – the Mirah Supper Studio was transcendent.

Was there a moment when food and music came together in a memorable way?

I've mentioned both Supper Studios in 2014 (Mirah and Xenia Rubinos), so mentioning them again, however memorable, might be excessive. Another moment might have been on my birthday while eating a slice of my favorite cake, Momofuku Milk Bar's Chocolate Chip Cake (passion fruit curd, chocolate crumbs, and coffee buttercream – don't sleep on this) while Built to Spill was playing on the speakers at the outdoor patio I was celebrating at. Outerspace tunes, friends, and a flavor explosion in my mouth.

@vivaladyboss

MATT LEMAY

Matt Lemay is a drummer (Kleenex Girl Wonder, Mike Pace and the Child Actors), songwriter (Get Him Eat Him), recording engineer (White Hinterland, Mr. Dream, BELLS, Capstan Shafts), and writer (Pitchfork , 33 1/3 series).

What was the food highlight of your year?

Dinner with my wife at La Buvette in Brussels. It was one of those rare meals that makes you want to run into the kitchen like "HOW IS THIS SO GOOD DO YOU EVEN REALIZE HOW GOOD THIS IS HOW IS THIS RESTAURANT NOT A BIG DEAL HOW IS THIS ALL EVEN REAL." It was probably the only time I've ever walked into a restaurant that initially reads "this place serves totally decent mid-level bistro-style food" and walked out saying "that may be the best meal I've ever had." Wait, did I really just write that?

What was the music highlight of your year?

Lots of them, but one particularly wonderful experience this year has been mixing a handful of songs by my good friend Jessica, who I met in an indie rock chat room when we were both teenagers. There's something extra-magical about working on music with somebody when you spent a good portion of your teenage years talking with that person about music.

Was there a moment when food and music came together in a memorable way?

This happens more or less constantly in my life, which is awesome, but I think my fondest music-and-food-related memory from 2014 is driving with my wife from Houston to Austin for SXSW, enjoying an all-BBQ menu and an all-Steely Dan playlist. It doesn't get much better than that.

@mattlemay

SEAN COURTNEY

Sean Courtney is a partner in the This Is American Music record label. 

What was the food highlight of your year?

This November, my wife, Rebecca, ran the NYC marathon, and while I am not a runner, I am a serious eater and walking all over New York for a week and eating everything in sight was incredible. Totto Ramen, oysters in Greenpoint, hitting a few of David Chang's places, amazing duck-liver pasta at Osteria Morini in SOHO, mutton chops at Keens, pastrami at Katz...not to mention daily helpings of bagels with smoked fish and slices of pizza or other street meat at 2am. Honestly...I felt like I ate New York City over the course of a week. I was lucky enough to have a hat-full of recommendations and as most people know, everywhere I turned was another bar, another bodega, another smell to chase...and I did my damnedest to accommodate it all. I can't wait to return.

What was the music highlight of your year?

Standing in the wings while the Replacements played had to be the highlight, right? I mean...it's the REPLACEMENTS and I'm standing in the wings about to have a heart attack...but to be honest, the music highlight of my year is almost the same thing every year: SXSW in Austin, TX. Of course, it has become a bloated ghost of what it was in years past...but it is still one hell of a time. It doesn't hurt that I meet up with a couple dozen friends from all over the country (and abroad) every year and seeing old and new favorite bands with them is probably the greatest thing I can imagine. This year's highlights included a raucous mess from Nashville called Diarrhea Planet with four or five guitars going at once, old friends like Have Gun, Will Travel and Lydia Loveless finding new audiences, seeing Ex Hex for the first time, and slamming a few tacos & Tecates between Natural Child and Reigning Sound...two of my all time favorites.

Was there a moment when food and music came together in a memorable way?

Food and music are always intertwined in my life...aside from friends, family & pets...what else is there? Thinking back to SXSW, I remember the deep fried deviled eggs, fried chicken & gizzards and Moon Pie Pie (that's right...a pie of Moon Pie) at Lucy's Fried Chicken as well as I remember who was playing (L'il Cap'n Travis, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Ramsey Lewis) that day. That same week, I was sweating every ounce of energy I had out to Grand Champeen at the Hole in the Wall...right after ducking out of the back door for ramen and sticky buns at Paul Qui's East Side King. We actually head to SXSW a day early so that we can do a "BBQ crawl" in Lockhart, TX...always starting at Black's and then on to Smitty's, and never making it any farther than a barstool at Lily's for a couple beers before heading back into the city. It's easy to find BBQ and tacos in Austin, but the town has so much more to eat than that...of course you do worse than a week of tacos & bbq.

@wigginstock

TOM OSBORN

Tom Osborn is a record industry vet currently working at ANTI/Epitaph.

What was the food highlight of your year?

As much as I pride myself in eating in every blown-out strip mall and dive in LA, I really have to say finally eating at the much lauded Providence was for me this past.  I really, and honestly, wanted to hate it… as it kind of stands in the way of my belief that you don’t have to throw down a huge chunk of change to eat a transformative meal.  Well, frankly, I was devastated as it was beyond my dreams.  The food there is theater and I couldn’t have imagined a better show.  I was beyond floored and it made me instantly regret that I’m not fantastically rich.  If you are going to splurge, this is your best splurge in Los Angeles.  I did have some really great standouts this year that really do deserve shout-outs, but after holding out so long to eat here, it really deserved the mention of the food highlight of the year.

What was the music highlight of your year?

This was a year of great music highlights, as there have been some really stunning records that have come out.  We live in a really amazing time for music, as the ease of access to wonderful music is at an all-time high.  Much less, the fact that we have more control of what we want to hear, when we want to hear it.  I feel more enveloped in great music then I ever have. 

Strangely, the live highlight happened at SXSW of all places.  On the last night of the convention, the Milk Carton Kids played with Devendra Banhart and Iron & Wine at the Central Presbyterian Church and it was just a perfect night.  With a convention that has been so over saturated with corporate branding, too many bands, too many people, too much traffic… to close off the convention with three perfect sets was just sublime.  I also have to mention working with Mavis Staples this year.  Nobody on the planet performs with the love and conviction that she does, regardless of her age.  She truly is a treasure, and not to be missed.

Was there a moment when food and music came together in a memorable way?

While in NYC for work, I was able to eat at Sorella off Allen and Delancey with friends before a show at the Webster.  It was a group of folks that all didn’t know each other, and getting a chance to have an absolutely stunning meal and talk about music for hours was just about as blissful as life gets.  For the record, the broccoli fritto, the short rib agnolotti…and the lamb ragu were just unreal.

I count myself of great fortune to continue to work in music.  I am still such a fan, and not being a musician myself, it still continues to be a bit of a magic show for me.  I am marveled at the innovative qualities that still seem to reveal themselves.  I think it is why I am equally wondered by the innovations in food.  I love when I can marry the two.

Food like music is so entrenched in our daily lives; we begin to really take it for granted.  But there are those great moments that stop us in our tracks and cause reflection on the moment at hand.  The high that creates is so special, and so great, it becomes a quest to find the next.

Lastly, god damn it I miss Foie Gras!

KIERSTEN STEVENS

2013 IN FOOD & MUSIC - KIERSTEN STEVENS

Kiersten Stevens is a food, fashion, and prop stylist.

What was the food highlight of your year?

We went to Tomalas Bay a few times this year and it’s just my favorite. Grab a bottle of champagne and a bag of oysters and shuck them with your feet in the water. Doesn’t get much better!

What was the music highlight of your year? 

Seeing The Soft White 60s play the main stage at Outside Lands! For them to play on the same stage as Paul McCartney was just a really special moment.

Was there a moment when food and music came together in a memorable way? 

South By South West is my favorite for food and music. Both surround you! Seeing Iggy Pop at a small club and then grubbing down on some BBQ late night was the best.

@kikithedinosaur

MARC HAWTHORNE

Marc Hawthorne is a journalist and editor whose credits include The Onion, SPIN, and The Bold Italic.

What was the food highlight of your year? 

This year I discovered the magic that is the Inner Richmond’s Firehouse Pizza. It’s somewhat surprising that two of my favorite pizza places (the other being Pizzetta 211) are located in San Francisco’s Richmond District, but for a vegetarian, Firehouse’s use of fake hamburger is a godsend. I substitute it on the Spicy Bacon Cheeseburger, where the smoked bacon is magically turned into green peppers. Mixed in some garlic butter, deliciously kick-ass giardiniera peppers, mozzarella, jalapeños, and cheddar, and you’ve got yourself one heck of a great veggie pie.

What was the music highlight of your year? 

Though I erroneously placed it atop one of my Top 10 albums lists last year when it still had a 2011 release date, technically my favorite record of 2012 is St. Lucia’s self-titled debut EP. Due to that mix-up, I’ll probably end up making Nada Surf’s The Stars Are Indifferent To Astronomy my #1 this year, but 2012 was still mostly the year of St. Lucia, whose epic little electro-tinged pop songs have inspired me to attempt to convert everyone I know into fanatics of the Brooklyn band (led by South African native Jean-Philip Grobler). The group’s show at SXSW this year only strengthened my love, and the crazy-packed show in July at San Francisco’s Rickshaw Stop proved that I’m not the only one who feels this way.

Was there a moment when food and music came together in a memorable way?

This year I celebrated Burns Night with a can of vegetarian haggis (yes, it really exists!), a pile of turnips and potatoes, plenty of Scotch, and as many Scottish bands as we could pile into iTunes: Belle & Sebastian, Teenage Fanclub, The Jesus & Mary Chain, The Pastels, The Vaselines, and so on. (We even included Nirvana’s covers of The Vaselines’ “Son Of A Gun” and “Molly’s Lips.”) But probably the most Burns Night of them all were the Robert Burns poems that Camera Obscura set to music for famed British DJ John Peel, including the hilariously titled “Cock Up Your Beaver.” Who would have thought that celebrating an 18th-century Scottish poet could be this fun?