The Southern Fork

Pardon me on this one, but it's true: we writers love a bookstore. I've heard many writers refer to their favorite bookstores or libraries as temples to reading, but one of the South's most significant spots for cookbook authors, M. Judson Booksellers in Greenville, SC, even kind of feels like a temple, situated dead center in the downtown district in a multi-floor historic building. It's anything...

The following is a travel journal entry recorded on location and delivered to you the same day. I hope you enjoy this mini-installment from the road during my Southern Fork Summer, and look for a regular full size interview to drop this Friday.   

Diego Campos, Executive Chef at CAMP, Modern American Eatery , works the chef's counter like a pro in this Greenville, SC restaurant, chatting and visiting and not looking at all stressed that he and his team are making multiple complicated dishes for multiple tables. He's just the latest to rise through the ranks of Table 301 Group, a restaurant group with more than 10 restaurants that's been hig...

Zachary and Hannah Welton started their great adventure together working in Charleston, SC's celebrated Husk kitchen before they decided to settle on another coast – the Yucatán. Their time spent living and working in southern Mexico – specifically Hartwood in Tulum – solidified their love for wood burning ovens, bright and bold flavors, and plenty of fresh produce. When they returned to the Lowco...

The following is a travel journal entry recorded on location and delivered to you the same day. I hope you enjoy this mini-installment from the road during my Southern Fork Summer, and look for a regular full size interview to drop this Friday.

We delve into BBQ again this week, not into its past but its delicious future. Up and coming pitmaster Hector Garate of Palmira BBQ is definitely part of the cuisine's next chapter. In Charleston, SC, he's creating sustainable farm-to-table barbecue with old school wood fire techniques and Puerto Rican Influences. He's in love with all parts of the cooking process, so much so that he often purchas...

J. Drew Lanham is a 2022 MacArthur Fellowship Recipient, an Alumni Distinguished Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Master Teacher at Clemson University, an ornithologist, poet, and essayist, and he's also a native of Edgefield, SC, where he grew up on lots of fresh veggies from the garden and the occasional Krispy Kreme doughnut from trips to Augusta. I first encountered him like many of you will...

The following is a travel journal entry recorded on location and delivered to you the same day. I hope you enjoy this mini-installment from the road during my Southern Fork Summer, and look for a regular full size interview to drop this Friday.

Steph's first residency stop is ... NYC?! Let her explain why she's beginning a "Southern Fork Summer" by going North. 

If you visit Spotted Salamander Cafe in Columbia, SC at lunch any day of the week after 12:15, you'll be in luck if you find a seat. This restaurant, housed in a commercial building constructed around 1915, oozes charm, from its handwritten menu on chalkboard to its creaky wood floors to its old fashioned shrimp salad tucked inside an avocado half, and it keeps its guests charmed as well by creati...

Craft beer is more than just a beverage, it's a culture driver. Each brewery has its own personality that's expressed through product and place, be it a neighborhood watering hole or concert venue or the place to play cornhole with your kids while you enjoy a pint.  Resident Culture in Charlotte, NC, founded in 2017 by Amanda and Phillip McLamb, has a modern, welcoming style, in beer and design an...

The Dutch Fork is a region of South Carolina including Lexington, Newberry, and Richland Counties between the Saluda River and the Broad River where they come together in a third waterway, the Congaree. Named after the German settlers of the area who first started arriving in the mid 1700s, Dutch is derived from the German word deutsch. And one of the cultural remnants that remain in this region f...

Steph shares details of The Southern Fork Residencies Summer Tour. 

Hospitality can be a nebulous thing, and while you know it when you feel it, what are some of its concrete elements and how do you create it and maintain it in a restaurant? To explore that question, I turned to two of the most hospitable people I know, Jerry and Krista Slater. Based in Athens, GA, they currently own two restaurants: The Expat and Slater's Steakhouse , one wine shop and bar named...

You know how some childhood foods become taste touchstones that live in a memory? Well, for brothers Nick and Peter Dale of Athens, GA, that taste was Ecuadorian chocolate. When they went to visit their mom's family there on vacations and holidays, there was just something special about that chocolate, something they could never quite taste outside of the country. And for a future chef like Peter...

Why are historical foodstuffs important? And what might they have to offer to us living now about some of the biggest issues we're facing? Glenn Roberts of Anson Mills and AM Research in Columbia, SC is on a journey to address these questions through interacting with the foods themselves: finding the seed, growing them out, and working with his team and a host of others around the world to test an...

Many of us who are employed full-time might call what we do for fun away from work a hobby. But for Dr. Howard Conyers , the research and practice of BBQ pitmaster and now distiller is part of his life's mission, much more than a pastime when he's away from work. And what interesting work it is. At the age of 27, Howard earned a Doctorate in Mechanical Engineering with a specialty in Aeroelasticit...

Jeremy Carter of Tarpon Cellars is more than just a winemaker; he is a student of taste, and he built his palate first in the South. A Georgia native, Jeremy attended Florida State University before moving to the Napa Valley in 2007 for an internship at his uncle's winery in Rutherford. He would soon hone his winemaking acumen through various positions at Luna, Chappellet, and Duckhorn while also...

This week's episode is a bit of a departure, but something very personal to me and essential to how I approach the varied work I do. I have been drawn to having deeper discussions about the nature of food and how we think about it, so I wanted to let you in a little to my behind-the-scenes by bringing this into the show once a quarter or so. Those of you who subscribe to the newsletter might find...

There were more than 2 million weddings in the US last year, averaging out to around 6000 a day, and close to 80 percent included a custom-made wedding cake at the reception. For around 25 of those special couples, their cake designer was Minette Rushing of Savannah, GA. Her business, Custom Cakes, is not only known for the delicious cakes she bakes, but for the outstandingly beautiful and lifelik...

Sam Fore is a first-generation Sri Lankan-American chef from Lexington, Kentucky, and she is a force in what it means to be cooking in America right now. She started her pop up, Tuk Tuk Sri Lankan Bites , in 2016, after brunches in her home outgrew her dining room. Her pop-ups are one of the few representations of Sri Lankan cuisine in the United States and are a reflection of her first-generation...

Husband and wife team Erin Eisele and James Alford created the concept for Cork & Cap Bottle Shop on their first date. It now lives beyond the imagination in a yellow Craftsman house in downtown Aiken, SC, and in the few years it's been opened, has impacted the culinary landscape of the Midlands. James, a wine professional, had worked for distributors, in restaurants crafting wine lists, including...

One thing that is wonderful about a life in cooking is that the path doesn't have to be straight and narrow. Chef Noah Whritenour of Stevedore Bakery in Savannah, GA is a New York native, graduated from Johnson and Wales in Rhode Island, has worked in kitchens all over the country from Martha's Vineyard to Colorado, and honed his craft mainly on the savory side of things. However, the sweet side o...

Judith Winfrey is one of the most respected voices in the Southern foodscape. She's spent a lifetime in food, from working in various positions in restaurants, to running a meal kit delivery business for five years, to being the COO of Linton Hopkins' Atlanta-based restaurant group.  She is the co-founder of both Wholesome Wave Georgia and Community Farmers Markets, has been recognized as one of A...

Charlotte, NC has a love affair with fast, casual food. Maybe it's the brisk pace of the banking world or the sprawl of roads that make commute times long but whatever it is, the city doesn't shy away from standing in line and ordering counter service. One of its favorite spots is Yafo Kitchen , which has multiple locations and is brought up by Charlotteans almost every time I visit with phrases l...