The Southern Fork

When I decided to forgo studying for my doctorate, by no means did that suggest I was done learning. On the contrary, I wanted to learn through research and experience, and telling stories in the culinary world gives me that in spades. I love giving myself an assignment, and lately, it's been to learn more about cheese. Patty Floersheimer and Trudi Wagner of Goat. Sheep. Cow in Charleston, SC have...

Today is a special episode, recorded live in partnership with Charleston Wine + Food Festival 's Tasting Notes series, and I was thrilled to invite Maneet Chauhan back to the mic to be my guest for this special day in the festival's demo kitchen. Maneet is known for her work on Food Network's "Chopped" where she sits on the permanent panel of judges, and she's also a James Beard Award for Excellen...

Hanna Raskin, food editor of The Post and Courier in Charleston, SC, is one of the most respected food writers in the country. She's written for many publications, from Garden & Gun to Cooking Light , won many awards, including from the James Beard Foundation, but it's her restaurant reviews that seem to get the most buzz, from her time at the Seattle Weekly and the Dallas Observer to her current...

I've written about Daps Breakfast & Imbibe a few times since its opening in the Westside neighborhood of Charleston, SC, I've judged a cocktail contest there, I've known owners Nick Dowling and Jeremiah Schenzel for years, and I've had plenty of meetings over pancakes, so in my mind, this breakfast and brunch spot is the very definition of a neighborhood haunt that feels like home. Speaking of def...

When I visited Chattanooga a few weeks ago, I wanted the air to be mountain cool, but instead, the morning I headed to visit Crabtree Farms , an urban farm just minutes from my downtown hotel, the air was thick with humidity and almost just as hot as the temps I'd left in Charleston. Still, executive director Sara McIntyre greeted me with a sparkling smile, and I soon understood why. Crabtree Farm...

Pastry chef Andrea Upchurch has inspired classes of pastry cooks through her tenure at Cypress, Magnolias, and Blossom downtown, and she's now leading a team to sweet success at The Obstinate Daughter and Beardcat's Sweet Shop on Sullivan's Island. As a mother and a manager, she spends a lot of time thinking about how best to balance her professional pursuits, her team's needs, and her family's we...

Like many wonderful women who grew up in the South, there's something hospitable about Amanda Niel. She has an easy smile and laugh and a down-to-earth persona that makes those around her comfortable, but beyond that exterior is an astute business mind with high level organizational skills -- high level enough to keep the restaurant machines of Easy Bistro and Main Street Meats running, while at t...

Oxford, Mississippi isn't an easy place to get to if you're accustomed to interstate highways and direct flights. Just the name of this town conjures a rich layer of images: SEC football tailgates, blues music wailing across big cotton field skies, and Faulkner, of course. But layered in all of this is also a hopping culinary scene, and one of its epicenters is Snackbar , a taste on the plate of a...

Restaurateur Steve Palmer has long been part of Charleston, SC's food scene, but when Oak Steakhouses and O-Ku Restaurants started popping up in other cities in the South, this dynamic leader of The Indigo Road Hospitality Group landed on a bigger stage. It's something he's embraced, seizing the opportunity to bring to life his ideas of hospitality and his role to define and shift industry culture...

I've been interested in Lowcountry Street Grocery since talking to director Lindsey Barrow before its wheels even started rolling a couple of years ago. But these days, I'm a customer. I shop on the bus when I can for veggies and other local foodstuffs, and now I'm on their email list for a weekly bag pick up. So in short, I've seen this food system in action; it works, and it's quietly revolution...

Tomorrow is the last service of The Refinery , a Tampa, Fla. restaurant that has been pushing the boundaries since 2010. At the helm of it for its entirety has been Greg Baker, a chef also pushing the boundaries, who's been nominated for five James Beard awards, whose retirement from his kitchen was announced in Food & Wine , but who's also written extensively about the pitfalls of the industry, f...

The food and music festival Music to Your Mouth just released tickets for this year's upcoming event, and if you know, then you know that this annual gathering of chefs, winemakers, and food enthusiasts in Bluffton, SC is all about curated experiences in the beautiful setting of Palmetto Bluff . It's exclusive, it's all attention-to-detail, and, well, I had heard it was a good time for both chefs...

Chef Todd Richards is a busy man. He's the culinary director of Jackmont Hospitality (overseeing One Flew South and Chicken+Beer at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport), he's the owner of Richards' Southern Fried, and an author that's been on tour with one of the hottest cookbooks in the country, SOUL. But I'm not interviewing him just because of that. It's more personal. I love his c...

You know, I was probably one of those people who at one time just assumed that Food & Wine 's former editor extraordinaire Dana Cowin was a dash of Meryl Streep in Devil Wears Prada mixed with someone who would never stand over the sink to eat a ripe tomato sandwich. I was so  wrong. That was before I got to know her through FAB Charleston , a women's conference focused on education and inspiratio...

Just like many a person who often spends more time in restaurants than she does cooking, my fridge can have bare shelves, but the door is always filled with condiments. And there are always pickles. Chef Nick Melvin makes some of my favorite storebought varieties under the Doux South brand out of Atlanta, Ga., a family-run company that just keeps getting bigger and better. But Nick's like a lot of...

I used to have a postcard of the Hominy Grill mural on my fridge when I first moved to Charleston. That image reminded me of why I'd been drawn here -- which was the city itself and its culture -- and that's what the artwork by David Boatright on the building and the food inside it represented to me. It was very Charleston at a particular time. I am not alone. Earlier this year when Hominy's Rober...

The first personal interaction I had with Charleston Grill 's Mickey Bakst was when he called me out of the blue on my mobile phone a few years ago. And I'd never given him my number. That's just how it is with Mickey in Charleston, SC, a man known as the unofficial mayor of the city, who has been general manager of the Grill since 2004 and been named a top five maître d in the country. These days...

People often ask me what my favorite food is, and I'll answer, but for the most part, the answer is deeper than one dish or one ingredient. My favorite foods are the ones soulfully prepared, or another way to put that is prepared with heart, not from a place of purely commerce or transaction, but from a place of communication and connection. I think that's a true X factor that comes through in fla...

If you got invited to a dinner party with Oprah, Obama, and Andrew Zimmern (and wouldn't that be some invite?!), chances are they'd want you to bring a baked good from Red Truck Bakery in Marshall, VA. Baker Brian Noyes has served cakes and pies to them and lots of other famous folks from his off-the-beaten-path spots -- now two of them -- in rural Virginia, but I found him through one perfect bit...

Chris and Tara Goulet like beer, but ask them a few years go if they'd own a brewery, and they would have probably laughed. Fast forward and Birdsong Brewing in Charlotte's NoDa is the definition of a neighborhood watering hole: a real regulars, bike-to-on-the-weekends and meet-for-happy- hour kind of vibe. But what makes them interesting to me -- beyond their good beer, which you know is a given...

When Ashley Christensen of Raleigh, NC, stepped behind the podium at the James Beard Awards almost two weeks ago to receive its Outstanding Chef Award, she was ready to accept that medal and give a heartfelt speech. Her attitude wasn't pompous or flippant, but almost an "ok then, let's do this … together."  And in many ways, that's how this outstanding chef has approached her work, going all in, l...

There are those that simply talk about good ideas, and then there are those that do their best to put those ideas in practice. Chef Clark Barlowe of Heirloom Restaurant in Charlotte is definitely the latter. He wants foraged mushrooms to be able to be served in restaurants? Then he, a native of Lenoir, NC, lobbies for it. He considers the meaning of local? He decides to limit his ingredients to th...

Here in South Carolina, we're a little over a week from the end of oyster season. Come with me to experience the setting of Bowen's Island Restaurant this time of year. Roll down your windows to the sound of cicadas as you pull the car off Folly Road and wind back to the edge of the water. Once you're out and climb up the steps to the second floor, suddenly, it's hard to escape the view. Marsh gra...

There's a small island off the state of Georgia called St. Simons, full of salt marshes and sandy beaches, and on that island is Southern Soul BBQ , named three years in a row as Reader's Choice Best Barbecue for Southern Living . You might never get there for a visit, and although that would be a shame, it doesn't mean that the food won't come to you at some point. While pitmaster Harrison Sapp t...

A holiday weekend is upon us, and plenty of children are going to be on the hunt for hidden eggs. On that note, have you ever heard of Easter Eggs in video gaming? Well, it's a secret feature that when found, unlocks a whole new level, a special delight, or added bonus. You have to go hunting for them, and if there are Easter eggs in the world of whiskey, then chances are Bill Thomas of Washington...