by TM Petaccia

An integral part of the annual Charlotte StrEATs Festival Neighborhood Cook-Off is how well a dish is reflective of its representative community. Chef Oscar Johnson of Biscuit Jam went all in paying tribute to West Charlotte — down to the red drink.

In the end, his General Tso’s fried chicken livers with collard green fried rice and fried egg took the 2026 Neighborhood Cook-Off honors and the $1,000 prize money.

The Neighborhood Cook-off was the culmination of the two-day StrEATs Tasting Tour and Festival — a celebration of local food, beverages, and select crafts — a collaboration between Charlotte SHOUT, Carben Events + Marketing, and Unpretentious Palate.

The Sunday festival featured a cooking demonstration by Charlotte chef and Top Chef alumni Jamie Lynch of 5th Street Group (Church & Union / La Belle Helene), who also emceed the final round of the cook-off, as well as local cocktail demonstrations and artisan fare, with the Neighborhood Cook-off taking the spotlight for most of the afternoon.

Four chefs made the semifinals Sunday, after a virtual round of public voting held prior to the Festival. The semifinals were judged by Laura White of CRVA, Kerrell Thompson of Bird Pizzeria, and Emma Start of The Bulb.

The first semifinal round pitted Ammalu Saleh of Serengeti Kitchen, representing Uptown, versus James Brokaw of The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery, representing LoSo. Saleh’s entry was a crab and plantain cake with a mango and habanero salsa. Brokaw plated an apple cider brined pork chop with a tarragon-mustard cream sauce and an apple and fennel salad. After an extremely long deliberation, the nod went to Brokaw.

In the second semifinal round, Johnson battled Maria Gonzalez of Mizu, representing SouthPark. Johnson offered his aforementioned fried rice and chicken livers dish against Gonzalez’ chermoula-crusted Faroe Islands salmon with ginger and corn pudding, and a burnt green onion pesto. Again after much discussion, Johnson was declared the winner of the penultimate round.

In the finals, Brokaw and Johnson made their same dishes for a new set of judges: 2025 Cook-Off winner Garcia Brown of SouthBound, Carolyn Edwards of Freshlist, and Jamie Barnes of Applied Technology Center / Serving the Culture. This round also added the twist of a secret ingredient provided by Freshlist that had to be incorporated into each of the contestant’s dishes: newly harvested green garlic. Brokaw made garlic chips as well as incorporated green garlic into his mustard sauce, while Johnson used it in his rice and red drink chili sauce.

Johnson made a point of telling the judges that just about every chicken, fish, and rib shop in Charlotte’s west side sells “red drink,” typically a flavor of Kool-Aid or other fruit punch, and felt he would be remiss to not include it in a dish representing the neighborhood. Here, the red drink was reduced with chilies (and the green garlic in the final round) and used as the General Tso’s sauce for the fried chicken livers.

That focus on his community as well as overall execution of the dish earned him the title of 2026 Charlotte StrEATs Neighborhood Cook-Off champion.

“It feels good to win,” Johnson said on receiving the award. “I love cooking. I love cooking for people. I had the westside powering me through this whole competition. It felt like home. I also felt I was representing my home in Virginia. Even though I’m hardly home, I’m always repping. I’m here in North Carolina now. In a lot of ways, it feels like a victory for both my homes.”

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