The Southern Fork

Although Charleston, SC, has changed a lot, it is still one of the cities in the US with a decidedly European feel. Many parts of it are very walkable, there are cobblestone alleyways and al fresco dining, and lingering over a meal is absolutely encouraged. One of the best places to linger this time of year -- or anytime really -- is Malagón Mercado y Tapería . Juan Cassalett is the executive chef...

On a cool, misty morning when the trees were bright green with their first flush of leaves, I rounded a corner on Route 215 in the NC Mountains and arrived at one of Sunburst Trout 's rainbow trout farms. Pristine water flowed continuously into multiple holding ponds, which held different sizes of trout with plenty of room to move around and swim. Here, in this storybook cove, these beautiful fish...

Chef Dave "Smoke" McCluskey, an official member of the Mohawk nation, has spent more than 30 years in the culinary industry, in everything from fine dining kitchens to catering gigs to even organizing and hosting boucheries. Those are traditional gatherings centered around communal hog butchering that also offer a space to celebrate local foodways, and swap knowledge, stories, and seeds. It was at...

Passion for your work can give you energy to do more than you ever dreamed you'd have time for. That's the case for William Dissen, chef of The Market Place in Asheville, NC, which this year, its 45th in operation, was named a semifinalist for Outstanding Restaurant by the James Beard Foundation. William began honing his skills through study at the Culinary Institute of America and in various kitc...

Jael Skeffington is the co-founder and CEO of French Broad Chocolates in Asheville, NC. What started in 2006 as a chocolate passion and a cafe in Costa Rica with her partner Dan, has grown to 85 employees, a Chocolate Lounge & Boutique in downtown Asheville, and an experiential Chocolate Factory & Cafe. French Broad sources the finest cacao from farmers and producers in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nica...

Do you ever consider going to Hilton Head Island, SC for a fresh-out-of-the-oven French baguette or a raspberry tart that's perhaps gilded with gold flakes and filled with lemon curd? Maybe not, but you might want to reconsider because Hilton Head Social Bakery , with two locations on the island, has been baking that and much more since Chef Philippe Feret and his wife Marissa opened the bakery in...

Despite the bio I'm about to share, I think Ray Isle is one of the least pretentious people in the wine world today. He grew up in Houston, and he learned to see wine as an adventure, an adventure that's taken him all around the world. Ray is the longtime executive wine editor for Food & Wine as well as the wine and spirits editor for Travel + Leisure . He writes Food & Wine 's monthly "What to Dr...

Augusta Road in West Columbia, SC, isn't a storybook setting. Strip malls are lined up down the road, flanking a Wal-Mart and a sprawling old school U Haul campus. But just keep going and turn off the road at the Aldi and there's a  summer camp style building tucked in some trees and a modest BBQ sign. That's when you know you've reached the city limits, City Limits BBQ to be exact. Owner and pitm...

According to Saveur magazine, Border Food is defined as Mexican food with a distinct identity —influenced by the cooking of Chihuahua and Texas, but with a number of little twists. Because Texas is so large and diverse, it's a more nuanced label than the overarching Tex-Mex, and one surprising spot that it is celebrating with abandon is in Greenville, SC. Dayna Lee is the chef and operator of Coma...

Chef Nikko Cagalanan was born and raised in the Philippines. After immigrating to the states in 2011 and working as a nurse, he found himself inspired to pursue cooking with the desire to share his passion for Filipino food. He moved to Charleston, SC in 2018 and began Mansueta's, a series of pop-ups in the city and the region that helped him hone his craft, his culinary point of view, and build h...

Hi y'all, It's Stephanie, I'm excited to share with you another podcast you should check out through this episode of The One Recipe from APM Studios.  On The Southern Fork I've talked to a lot of people about their food and their recipes. Pretty much everyone who cooks aspires to have a clutch of recipes they can make their own. The ones that we send to friends because we know it's going to work e...

Hi! Stephanie here. It's been a while since you've heard from me, but as we get close to Thanksgiving, I want you to know that I'm thinking of y'all, and I'm thankful for every one of you who listen to The Southern Fork. I'm working hard over here in the background making podcast plans and interview itineraries for 2024, but in the meantime, I wanted to share with you a little audio treat -- an ep...

Host Stephanie Burt recaps Season 8 of the show, sharing the most listened to podcasts, her favorite bites of the season, and other details to keep the conversation going. Let's Dig In.

Charleston Wine + Food is a multi-day wine and food festival that takes place the first full weekend each March, and I have covered it as a media person, and/or participated as talent for all of its going-on 18 years excepting one. The following interview took place live in the midst of the Culinary Village at this year's festival, and I'm sharing it now because I already have the 2024 festival on...

 Although The Southern Fork Summer Tour is over, we still have a few weeks together, and the weather has started to turn in much of the South. I don't know about you, but soon after I feel that first cool breeze, I can't wait to have a plate of barbecue. Maybe it's because in my North Carolina childhood, barbecue "stands" as it were, popped up at church parking lots and auxiliary halls each Autumn...

Alabama native Scott Peacock is a James Beard Award-winning chef and one of the foremost authorities on American Southern cuisine. He might be best known for his work at Watershed restaurant in Decatur, Georgia, and his partnership with culinary icon Edna Lewis, but his recipes and writing have appeared in numerous publications as well, including The New York Times, Better Homes & Gardens, Gourmet...

Despite the name, I was still so unprepared for how very clear much of the water is in the Crystal River region of Florida. From snaking like a teal ribbon around trees and under bridges, to reflecting clouds like a salty mirror, on the day I went out on it, our boat sped closer on its glassy surface to a horizon already dotted with other anchored boats. Every year, fishing folks make the pilgrima...

In 1905, Saloon Columbia in Tampa, FL officially became Columbia Restaurant, a place helmed by Casimiro Hernandez Sr. where cigar workers in Ybor City could rest and enjoy Spanish and Cuban food, or snag a sandwich to eat on the job. Through the years, the restaurant grew to envelop the entire city block, and today, the family-owned landmark is Florida's oldest restaurant and the largest Spanish r...

Rocca , located in the Tampa Heights neighborhood of Tampa, FL, is Chef Bryce Bonsack's love letter to the family who he worked for and lived with during his tutelage and pilgrimage in Italy. Showcasing fresh handmade pasta, mozzarella pulled tableside, and dry aged meats, Bryce creates an ever changing menu influenced by both classical recipes and modern techniques. A Tampa native, his culinary b...

The day dawns humid and the waters of Sarasota Bay seem like a glassy mirror reflecting a pale blue sky. There are the sounds of birds as well as the gentle lapping of water up against a boat, sure, but more often than not, those sounds are drowned out by the sounds of fishermen calling out to each other to set the lines as they dock, or the beeping of a refrigerated truck backing up to the loadin...

I've been covering food for close to two decades, and throughout my career, most of the high volume places I visit, and especially those in tourist areas, don't present menus that follow local seasons, feature local produce, or work with local farms. However, on Anna Maria Island, FL and neighboring Longboat Key, the restaurants of Chiles Hospitality Group: Beach House, Sandbar, Mar Vista, and Ann...

Founded in 1959 by Inez Hill and Louise Hudson, otherwise known as Mama Hill and Mama Louise, H&H Restaurant in Macon, GA is a Southern institution. In the 70s, Macon was home to the newly minted Capricorn Records, and H&H fed many of the musicians coming through the town, though it is most famous for its founders' unique friendship with the Allman Brothers Band, where the story goes if the band w...

Parnass Savang is a first-generation Thai American who grew up in his parents' Thai restaurant in the Atlanta suburb of Lawrenceville. A Culinary Institute of America graduate, he came back to Atlanta to cook in some of the best kitchens in the city, including Kimball House, Staplehouse, and the now shuttered Empire State South. When he and fellow chef Rod Lassiter teamed up with dreams of a Thai...

Greenville, SC is not only a food-focused destination, it is a place that celebrates the active life through its parks and most notably, its Swamp Rabbit Trail, a 22-mile walking and biking greenway that connects the city to nearby Travelers Rest, SC. About halfway between the cities, close to mile marker 31 is the Swamp Rabbit Café & Grocery . Mary Walsh, along with her co-founder Jac Oliver, beg...

Dan Weidenbenner moved to Greenville, SC in 2007 via Furman University. While there, he fell in love with the region and decided to stay, and then with the help of more than 50 volunteers, launched Mill Village Farms in 2012. The farm is located in the Greater Sullivan Community of Greenville and includes 30 garden beds, a 60-foot greenhouse, a commercial kitchen, and a produce-processing facility...