Behind two security checkpoints, past the VIP oasis of stage-side pools, up the stairs through more security and onto an even more exclusive deck area (fully equipped with private hot tubs), we made our way to the inconspicuous white tent that housed Hangout Fest’s ultra private Super VIP dining room.

A rush of air-conditioning blasts you as you open the door to the blue hued area. Palm trees tower over communal and intimate barn wood tables. In the center of the massive tent space there are comfortable couches where you can put your feet up as you sip on the cocktail of your choosing. Tucked away in the right front corner are white cabana pods for anyone seeking more privacy, but to the left you will find the main feature of this heavenly paradise: the gourmet food bar.

Gourmet food bar seems like a more fitting description because the dishes served here are unlike anything you would find on your average buffet line, or at any other music festival. Each day a menu is crafted by some of the Southeast’s most acclaimed chefs. On Friday, Chef Wesley True, Executive Chef of Atlanta’s The Optimist and two-time semifinalist for the James Beard Award for “Best Chef of South,” (you may also recognize him from Bravo’s ‘Top Chef’ Season 13) fired up his Big Green Eggs and served an impressive menu featuring grilled tuna, roasted Chilean sea bass, and a cascading raw bar of shrimp, oysters, and snow crab claws. Chef Ford Fry, chef-owner of Atlanta’s Jct. Kitchen, No. 246, The Optimist and Oyster Bar, King + Duke, St. Cecilia, and founder of Ford Fry Restaurants, took over the culinary stage on Saturday with an impressive lineup of poached lobster deviled eggs, Gulf Coast cioppino, roasted chermoula leg of lamb, and pan seared Ahi Tuna, just to name a few…

This year marked Chef True’s second Hangout appearance; a couple of years ago, he joined forces with Chef Martie Duncan. For Chef Fry, this was his first time at the festival.

“[The festival] called me the past three years,” stated Chef Fry. “I didn’t even know anything about it when they first started calling. We’ve opened a bunch of restaurants in the past few years, so each year they’ve asked us to come and do this and I haven’t been able to. This year they asked Wesley, I guess they stopped asking me, so Wesley said [to them] ‘you should ask Fry now’ and I’m like okay, if Wesley’s going I’ll come down.”

While both chefs have notable careers, Chef True and Chef Fry share similar culinary beginnings.

“About 15 or 16 years ago I was at Oxford, Mississippi” shared Chef True. “I was a collegiate pole vaulter, believe it or not, but I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, so I decided to try cooking. People said I was good at it cooking at home, so I went and worked for the best restaurant in Oxford and the rest is history.”

“Well it’s funny because I’m learning a lot now,” stated Chef Fry. “Simply there are two different ways to learn. I was never someone who could actually focus, I was only interested in what I was interested in. So I went to college, joined a fraternity, lived in the fraternity house, majored in business, and I had no idea what I wanted to do. I always loved cooking but never thought about it, that was back in the 90s where being a chef wasn’t necessarily ‘cool.’ But my parents suggested that since I loved to cook I go to culinary school, so I did that in Vermont and loved it ever since. That’s how I got in.”

Chef True and Chef Fry also shared a comparable culinary belief: the older you get, the more simple the food.

“A few months ago [Chef True] was ‘Mr. Intricate’ and wanted to something really crazy for this weekend, but today he was like, ‘I just want to cook over coals, and I just want really simple food,” said Chef Fry.

“I used to be into… well, I’m still into the really “chefy” type food that’s kind of weird and doesn’t make sense typically, but it still works somehow. But I think the older we get, the simpler we get,” shared Chef True. “I just like simplistic stuff. We’re burning things now, burning carrots, and taking the char off and serving those. We had a dish last year that was burned turnips, buried in charcoals, cut the top off, and you eat it with a little spoon. Just doing really simple food. I heard that as you get older, you want more simple food. That’s really true. I just want simple, clean flavors. But boldness too. I love bold flavors like coriander and things like that.”

Chef Fry agrees. “I think as I get older I get more minimal, more less and less. So for this I had to think because it’s like for 500 people, all at one time so I tried to think about something I could do that’s really big boosts of flavor. So I wanted something really strong on the flavor side, plus it’s right on the Gulf so I wanted to do some outdoor grilling and showcase a lot of the seafood from around here as well.”

Not only did the menus for the weekend showcase outdoor grilling, local Gulf Coast seafood, and the pure creativity of Chef True and Chef Ford, but they also highlighted some talent we may have not been introduced to yet.

“I was talking to Ford the other day about accomplishments and ‘where you are in your career,’ and I think it used to be that I wanted to show everybody how much bad ass food I could make. And after you get nominated for awards, and being on ‘Top Chef’… you do all this stuff to feel like you proved it, but you don’t feel any different,” shared Chef True. “So I’m like what’s next?  What do you do now? You accomplished all these things, you don’t feel any different. You wanted to prove to the world you’re some great chef and you start doing that and you still feel the same, I think the next step and what I’m doing now is teaching other people how to do this stuff. One of the dishes that we’re doing today my sous chef came up with. And I would have never done it before, and it’s a great dish. It’s one of the better dishes on the menu right now. So just showing other people how to work their stuff is the next step, and that’s where I am.”

When our conversations had ended and cocktails were finished, Chef True and Chef Fry exited to man their outdoor grills and continue preparation for that evening’s meal. Fortunate Super VIP attendees with wide eyes and hungry stomachs began to enter the dining room and formed a line. As we opened the door to exit the the blue hued tent we were once again hit with that Alabama sunshine and the mouthwatering aroma from Chef True and Chef Fry’s grills.