The Southern Fork

I think Micah LeMon, bar manager at the James Beard Award–nominated Alley Light in Charlotttesville, VA, wants us to slow down and take a beat, probably over a lovely, stirred cocktail in a fancy glass. On the day we recorded a few months ago, I was at high-energy, just starting Charleston Wine + Food, and I went and collected Micah from the book signing tent to have a chat. Despite all the people...

There was a time when how good Rodney Scott's family barbecue was, was pretty much a locals secret. Unless you were lucky enough to meet him at a food event or lived in Hemingway, SC, you probably didn't know about him, that is unless you were the kind of people who roadtrip for good food. So yeah, you and me. Chances are, if you're listening to this podcast, you'll drive for good food, right? Any...

At this stage in the game, Terra Restaurant in Columbia, SC, is an institution -- but that doesn't mean that it's staid. Go there any night and you'll find that you're walking into the best that a neighborhood bistro can be. Multiple members of the staff have been there for years, the menu rotates seasonally, and the seats are filled with people who know all of this, often greeting each other and...

It's a bit disconcerting when you step off the elevator for your first visit to The Punch Room at the Ritz Carlton in Charlotte, NC. First, it's not on the rooftop or penthouse floor, something I was expecting, but on a random floor. Secondly, other than a small host stand outside what appears to be a usual hotel suite, there is no indication you're walking into a public establishment at all. But...

I promise you Jean-Paul Bourgeois makes some mean barbecue at his wildly popular restaurants, Blue Smoke , in NYC. I promise. But when I sat down with him at a conference table in the Embassy Suites hotel, steps from the Marion Square hub of the Charleston Wine + Food Festival, I was all about getting the lowdown on frying. This Louisiana-born chef is a master at many things, and frying chicken is...

My trip to Cornelius and Davidson, NC, was a trip down nostalgia's lane. As a native Charlottean, I'd spent time at the lake growing up, and one of my first writing gigs was as a features writer at Lake Norman Times, so when I went to visit Joe and Katy Kindred at Kindred and Hello, Sailor , I was having all the feels checking out my old stomping grounds. But that was just the beginning -- friend...

It's the most wonderful time of the year again, folks. I'm so happy to debut a new season of The Southern Fork, spring is springing in Charleston (hello, pollen), and we are in the middle of the Charleston Wine + Food Festival! I'm so proud to be a part of this festival and to celebrate with friends near and far as they visit my city, but since I'm up close and personal to this event, I know how m...

As I considered, what the hell am I going to do for my 100th episode (?), I decided to just be me, sharing a few recurring themes I've noticed after recording 100 interviews. So it's just you and me today, from my house on a road thawing out from an epic freak Charleston snowstorm! Anyway, I hope you'll take some of these themes into the new year with you. Let's dig in, shall we?

As we end the year, we have one more weekend of revelry. While not everyone will choose to imbibe to say goodbye to 2017, there are those that want one more hurrah, and for many a Southerner, that hurrah will include whiskey. I know my fair share about whiskey and cocktails, more than the average bear at least, but for some expert help on choosing and finding and tasting and testing bourbon, I tur...

Right about now, if you are doing the holidays like I do the holidays, chances are you've had your hands on some butter. Maybe it was unwrapping a stick to mix into cookie dough or adding it into a cream sauce for Friendsgiving, but if you've been paying attention to the butter section of your local suburbia grocery store, well, you've noticed some new varieties, and this is the time to celebrate...

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What does authentic mean? And what is the responsibility of the consumer of the art versus that of the artist? I heard those discussions in my graduate school literature classes years ago, and really, they bear out in discussions of food as well. Case in point, this chat with Meherwan Irani, two-time James Beard chef semifinalist with five restaurants in Asheville, NC, Atlanta, and Decatur, GA. He...

Tis the season of sugar plum fairies dancing in our heads and baked goods in the oven. Houston, TX has a sugar fairy and her name is Rebecca Masson. In fact, her Instagram handle is sugarfairy, so she owns it. She's worked at some big name spots, including in Paris and at   DB Bistro  in New York City, and she's been on Top Chef,  but it was after working at  Central Market  in Texas, where she le...

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When I was just starting this whole podcast thing, one day I received a note from a chef. He told me that he loved the podcast and loved what I was doing and to keep up the good work. That chef was Matthew Register of  Southern Smoke BBQ  in Garland, NC. It was one of those days that I really needed to hear that someone was listening, and it meant a lot to me since I didn't know him or how he'd fo...

Well, it's the day after Thanksgiving, and if you're like most Americans, you are whining about having anything other than turkey. Well, I got you covered. Here's the beef (sorry, I just had to say that. Milennials, youtube this Wendy's reference, ok?) Anyway, it's a beef-centric episode with  A Bar N Ranch  from Sherman, TX.. I met Gregg Allen and his daughter, Katie Allen Bolner, at the recent ...

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At  Crook's Corner  on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, NC, the morning soundtrack is a little radio above prep tables and the chatting of cooks as they fill the restaurant. There are deliveries, phones occasionally ringing, and morning greetings, including one in Spanish you'll hear in this episode. Bill Smith -- the James Beard nominated chef of a James Beard America's Classic Restaurant, author,...

Ian Boden was focused had the kind of focus that has garnered him two, two,  James Beard nominations, all from a little spot called The Shack  in Staunton, Virginia. That's a 26-seat place in a town in the middle of the Shenandoah Valley, so you know it must be good. Especially since you can't see a menu online, especially since you probably have no idea where Staunton is, and especially since you...

Sometimes we work until we figure out what we really do, or at least, it seems to happen that way for a lot of us these days. And more often than not, that next thing finds us when and where we least expect it. Jason Burke of  The New Primal changed his life by working in a garage, actually two garages. The first was a Crossfit gym in a garage on Daniel Island outside Charleston, SC. It was there...

The line is probably long, there's probably a plastic tray and some styrofoam cups, but when you open the door on a true soul food restaurant, all those details melt away with the scent of fried chicken, barbecue, or macaroni and cheese. There's no curated soundtrack here, no beverage director, but an extra slice of cake is exactly what the doctor ordered. This is the spot, actually the spots, all...

Biscuits, business, bubbles. Chefs Sarah Simmons and Aaron Hoskins have made a life together in the midst of all of it, from  Birds & Bubbles  restaurant in New York, to  Rise Bakeshop and the about-to be open Library Cafe in Columbia, SC. They live life on full tilt -- opening businesses, doing events, traveling, and even creating pop-up restaurants in Hong Kong to translate Southern fried chicke...

There is never a time where there is not a line at  Bertha's Kitchen  in North Charleston, SC. That means that you'll have plenty of time to decide what all you want for your meal (hint: you want lima beans), and you'll also have time to read the mentions in Southern Living and Garden and Gun hanging on the wall. Owners Julia Grant, Linda Pinckney, and Sharon Coakley cook just like their mother, B...

Although it's tough to say, Charleston, SC is not all postcards and porch living. It's a city that is fighting decaying infrastructure, gentrification, the pressure of tourists, and traffic, traffic, traffic as an average of 75 people move here a day. So it can be a beautiful place but a hard place to live, to work, and to build a business. And thus begins the story of  Stems & Skins , a wine bar...

When you walk into  Smyth in Chicago, there's no getting away from the kitchen. In fact, you're basically eating in the kitchen, so that's exactly where I interviewed chefs John Shields and Karen Urie Shields, in earshot (or microphone range, as it were) of two industrious sous chefs whisking things in metal bowls, getting things out of ovens when the timer went off, and generally prepping for the...