This past weekend marks the end of the 2020 CHS Wine & Food Festival. I am already looking forward to 2021, but before I get there, I want to share my thoughts about this year’s experience. And when I say experience, I mean, at the Culinary Village only, as I do not attend any of the formal tastings, seminars or lunches or dinners*. CHS Wine & Food – Culinary Village – Friday Tickets for the CHS Wine & Food Festival go on sale sometime in August of the previous year. Tickets for any of the most popular events sell out…
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Barbecue holds a special place in the hearts of cities all over the country. And yes, each city thinks of theirs as “the best.”. There is Kansas City BBQ, Memphis BBQ, Texas BBQ, etc., etc. Of course, South Carolina has its style of barbecue with its mustard-based sauce as well. Fortunately for those that live in Charleston, we are lucky enough to have a couple of styles come to us, including Lewis Texas BBQ, The most recent entry into the market is Martin’s Tennessee Whole Hog BBQ. Now we have Rodney Scott’s Whole Hog Barbecue, and he is South Carolina…
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Wine bars have exploded all over Charleston. For the longest time, the best that I could tell, there were just two, Bin 152 on lower King St. and Avondale Wine and Cheese in West Ashley. Then the trend hit Charleston, and there seemed to be a new one opening every few months, as well as pre-existing bars tweaking their offerings to become a wine bar. My unofficial count at this point is fourteen. Some might argue that there are more, but I am happy with my count. But there was one I kept coming up in conversation, Wine & Company,…
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EVO Pizzeria Long before everyone was making brick-oven pizza, EVO Pizzeria was doing it in the Park Circle area of North Charleston. To me, brick-ovens makes the best pizza, so I loved going there whenever I had a craving. While EVO remains one of my favorite spots still today, now there are brick-oven pizzerias all over town. So while EVO reigns supreme in my eyes, I rarely made the drive anymore. So when I heard that EVO Pizzeria was joining forces with Holy City Brewing to open a spacious location in the old DeSano Pizza building downtown, I was out…
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This past weekend, Gary and I had a house guest. Katia, who was my classmate in D.C. when I was taking the Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) Level 2 Certification. We hit it off and became study partners and subsequently friends. She reached out looking for hotel and restaurant recommendations for a weekend trip to Charleston. I recommended the “Hotel de Dean-Link,” which is the same location as our Church of the Screened in Porch. She loved that idea and chose to stay with us. She toured Charleston on her own Friday and Sunday but on Saturday we all…
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This is a post that I should call This, That and The Other because it is different topics that are unrelated to each other but are all themes of my blog, eating out – this week at Barsa; creating food- a simple Unrecipe appetizer; and drinking and sharing wine – New Summer Sips. Hopefully, that means that there is something in this post for everyone. But before I go there, I have to tell you that last week was insane as I pulled off a hugely successful invitation-only tasting with Gratus Vineyards. Typically, I would not host a tasting when…
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Edison James Island Klinker Brick Wine Dinner You all know by now that I am a huge fan of wine dinners. The ones I attend tend to cost in the $90 to $125 range including tax and gratuity, although I have seen some advertised for as much as $200 to $300 per person. This occasion was my first wine dinner at Edison James Island. In my experience, wine dinners always sell out, and that makes me very happy. What made this wine dinner so interesting to me is the quality to price ratio (QPR) of the Klinker Brick wines and…
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A few weeks ago, I had the honor of attending the Laherte Frères Champagne Dinner at Edmund’s Oast. All of the wine dinners I have gone to at Edmund’s Oast have been a lot of fun as well as great learning experiences. But I was super excited about this one because I have a significant knowledge deficit when it comes to the art of champagne. Since this is one of Sarah O’Kelley’s (the sommelier at Edmund’s Oast), favorite producers, I knew I was in for a treat. Side note: All Champagne is sparkling wine. But all sparkling wine is NOT…
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