The Southern Fork

Chef Kevin Mitchell of the Culinary Institute of Charleston in Charleston, SC, has professional interests that far exceed the confines of the kitchen. Disciplined and driven, he earned two degrees from the Culinary Institute of America and went on to hone his craft with hands-on experience at restaurants including Sun Dial in Atlanta, Seldom Blues Supper Club in Detroit and the MGM Grand Detroit H...

Around 2.5 million visitors make the trek to Hilton Head Island, S.C. each year, and a portion of those at least, have made it a family tradition to rent homes on the island for holiday gathering, which is a smart idea when sunshine and palm trees are the backdrop for Santa instead of snow. Andrew Carmines of Hudson's Seafood on the Docks (locally just referred to as Hudson's) has been a part of t...

There is a lot of talk in professional kitchens these days about the power of mentorship, but for many of you outside those spaces, the stereotype of the angry, belittling chef still seems to stick. So today I remedy that, bringing you inside the kitchen to meet Tim Morton, a chef mentored by chefs who is now focusing on mentorship in his own career while still putting out seriously satisfying foo...

It's Hanukkah, and to celebrate this festival of light with a Southern accent, I asked Marcie Cohen Ferris to provide some insight into Jewish foodways in the American South. Her deep attachment to the study of place is rooted in her childhood in Arkansas. For over 40 years, she's studied, documented, interpreted, exhibited, taught, and written about the South, largely through its foodways, materi...

After a week of thinking about cooking turkey and a day of eating it, you might want to consider something else, so come with me to the Gulf of Mexico, where the sand is white and the seafood is plenty. This is the source of inspiration and menu items for Adam Evans, chef and co-owner, along with his wife Suzanne, of Automatic Seafood & Oysters in Birmingham, AL. Housed in a former mid-century war...

The iconic Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q restaurant in Decatur, AL was founded in 1925, its classic neon sign still shining brightly today. Chris Lilly, a 4th generation partner, is now pitmaster, as well as the head of the restaurant's competition cooking team, a team that's won a record five Memphis in May World Grand Championships. I'd eaten Chris' cooking before at festivals, but we first connected p...

It used to be that food trucks were incubators for emerging talent, but the last few years, with real estate prices skyrocketing and a pandemic rocking everything, that's not always the rule. Caitlin Schumacher isn't an emerging talent -- she's an established powerhouse in the culinary scene. She grew up in Chapel Hill, NC and graduated from UNC with a French degree, but after she started working...

In coastal Georgia, Matthew Raiford grew up breaking the dirt and trading squash for sweet potatoes, raising hogs and chickens, and only going to the grocery store for staples. After a military career then graduation from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, Matthew returned to Brunswick, GA in 2011 to continue the traditions of his Gullah-Geechee heritage and to create an authentic far...

Come with me to a valley in Eastern Tennessee filled with fresh mountain air and grass-filled pastures where cows wander and graze all day. This is the birthplace of the cheese of Sequatchie Cove Creamery , one of the South's foremost cheesemakers, whose Dancing Fern cheese wowed the American cheese community -- and beyond -- when it debuted in 2012. Located 35 minutes northwest from Chattanooga,...

In the world of food and drink, we often need guides. I know I do, and that's also one of the most wonderful things about the culinary world -- if you approach with curiosity instead of a know-it-all attitude, there's so much to learn, and connection and community is just around the corner. Sarah Pierre, owner and operator of 3 Parks Wine Shop in Atlanta, GA, is one of the foremost guides and tast...

In the middle of Birmingham, AL sits the behemoth Sloss Furnaces, now a museum but once the tin man's beating heart of this industrial city. During that era, quick lunches soon became big business, and hot dogs quickly reigned supreme as Chicago restaurateurs made their way down the rail line to new opportunities. In 1947, Gus Alexander, a Greek immigrant, opened Gus's Hot Dogs in its current, ori...

Chef Rob McDaniel is an Alabama native. He grew up in Hayleyville, graduated from Auburn, sharpened his cooking skills at 'Bama standbys Jim N' Nicks and Hot & Hot Fish Club, and was the longstanding chef of SpringHouse at Lake Martin. So a couple of years ago, when he told me he was opening a place of his very own in downtown Birmingham, named Helen after his granny, I knew it was going to be goo...

It's time to come clean here. When Delaney Oyster House opened a few years ago, I was prepared to dismiss it as part of a group of oyster bar openings in my home city of Charleston, SC. I just thought things were getting too saturated, and it was a trend that was gearing more toward tourist dollars than unique flavors. But from my first bite at Delaney, I knew whoever was behind the stove wasn't c...

You never know when something will capture your imagination and change your path forever. Lou Thomann was an ex-rice trader and historic building restorer living in Savannah, Ga. when he he decided to join a nature tour on Ossabaw Island, and that was the day he learned about Yaupon Holly, a native caffeinated plant known and revered by indigenous tribes but mostly forgotten in collective modern c...

With Labor Day behind us, a bit of a break in the high humidity, and college football on the television, it's evident that fall temps are around the corner. This time of year, my mind doesn't turn to pumpkin spice, it turns to all things pasta. Craig Richards of Lyla Lila in Atlanta, Ga. is a true pasta professional, having learned the craft under the renowned Lidia Bastianich, working with her an...

There is a magic picnic basket on this show, a fantastical idea of a dream meal, and I struggle to recount how many of my 240+ guests have included a dish from Frank Stitt. Let's just say it's more than a few.. Writer Charles Gaines in Garden & Gun called him the Godfather of Southern Cuisine, and this James Beard award winner has built a dynasty of dining delight in Birmingham, AL with Highlands...

In times like these, it's good to go back to the garden, and with school back in session, that's exactly where some children in Birmingham, AL are headed. Jones Valley Teaching Farm is located in the city's downtown, and its patchwork of small, urban farms within a single community is reshaping the stories and futures for those nearby. Amanda Storey is the Executive Director of the farm, where she...

Brian Hart Hoffman is a force. Co-president and chief creative officer of Hoffman Media, he oversees the editorial planning and brand direction for all publications and books. He's written three books and is a frequent guest on morning shows, but during my recent visit to Birmingham, AL, we focused on his Bake from Scratch magazine since he was hosting the Southern Baking Retreat. Just as he encou...

I had one of the best fried fish sandwiches I've had in a long while recently at Shabazz Seafood in Savannah, Ga. Whiting is fried crispy hot to order, and it's sandwich with a stellar reputation in Savannah.  But, this take out spot that opened its order window in 1989 hasn't been known much outside the city until recently. That all changed when it was featured this year on Netflix's Fresh, Fried...

Paw paw season is almost here. From late August through October, the largest native fruit to North America -- and growing in many parts of the South -- begin to ripen. These fruit are in the custard apple family and are enjoying a culinary renaissance, and so to learn more about these wild edibles, I turn to Sara Bir , the author of The Pocket Paw Paw Cookbook , just released with beautiful illust...

What does it mean to really have a culinary collaboration? Circumstances prompted Chefs Brandon Carter and John Benhase to join forces in a kitchen as the world was asking "What does the future of restaurants look like?" Their spot, Common Thread , is attempting to answer that question with every service. Located in Savannah, GA, in an 1897 home that was once the gift of a Prussian hat seller to h...

In the world of creativity, writing like yourself, playing music like only you can play it, or cooking from a true place and point of view inside yourself -- that's the sweet spot. We're all chasing that and even when we find it, we have to find it again every time we sit down to create, which is part of the frustration and part of the fun. Shuai Wang cooks from just such a place, a culinary intui...

Just 7% of U.S. businesses overall were Black-owned before the pandemic, according to data from a University of California, Santa Cruz study, and, of course, black-owned restaurants were only a portion of that number. In 2020, North Charleston, SC native KJ Kearney began the Black Food Fridays Instagram account with a simple idea -- it would be a way for people to find and support Black-owned rest...

It's not the neighborhood you expect. It's not throwing those flashy, Atlanta vibes with its post-industrial decor and lack of dress code or velvet ropes. And the night I visited, a festive group was having birthday fun, laughing and singing at the chef's counter. Welcome to Lazy Betty , a mirage of unapologetically upscale dining in an unassuming brown building in the Candler Park neighborhood of...

When Chubby Fish in Charleston, SC is closed, there are dark blue velvet curtains in the windows that obscure a view inside. However, when 5 p.m. comes, those curtains are opened and Chef James London and his team are ready to serve a lot of hungry diners. They come for all things seafood, a variety of fish and shellfish prepared in a variety of ways, but always with an eye for balance and a respe...