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  • It's festival season!

    The Charlotte StrEATs Festival brings some of the city's best food and beverage talents together in Uptown.

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    September 21, 2022

    Photos: Dishes from our Plated Pop-UP with The Hot Box

    Chef Michael Bowling got to play with seafood at this exclusive event


    Photos by TM Petaccia

    That’s a wrap on this year’s Plated Pop-UP series, presented by Coca-Cola! Our series finale featured chef Michael Bowling of The Hot Box. While chef Bowling may be known for his food truck’s street food and restaurant inside Southern Strain Brewing’s upscale bar food, his background in fine dining came to the forefront at this four-course dinner.

    We’re hoping to bring this series back in 2023, but we’ve got our next series starting next month: Our Meet the Chef dinners at Fin & Fino and Chef Alyssa’s Kitchen. Be sure to sign up for the newsletter to get the latest news and ticket releases. UP Members get early access and a discounted ticket price to these exclusive events.

    Thank you to supporting partner National Restaurant Properties, and to Lucky Fish Seafood for the fantastic shellfish!

    The amuse: Lucky Fish petite oyster, tomato, horseradish jell-o, HBX puffed rice, micro cilantro.
    The evening’s menu highlighted chef Michael Bowling’s fine dining experience.
    Hard seared scallop from Lucky Fish Seafood with caramelized onion rice grits, butternut squash purée.
    Wine expert Edward Kuehnle of Somm for the Day explains the evening’s beverage pairings.
    UP editor Kristen Wile goes over the menu with (L) food writer Kate Anderson McGee, and (R) 300 East chef/owner Ashley Boyd.
    Southern Strain Brewing Co’s Jr. Thiol coming out for the second course.
    Braised chicken slider on Dukes Bread pretzel bun, with honey-sweetened red cabbage slaw and russet potato chips. Pairing: Southern Strain Brewing Company’s Jr. Thiol.
    Chef Bowling plates NC trout for main course.
    Final sauce touches for main course.
    Seared mountain trout with roasted vegetable vol-au-vent, smoked sea salt hollandaise, sunflower shoots, paired with Bodegas Breca Rosé 2021
    Sweet rice fritters with brown sugar roasted apples. Pairing: AHA Sparkling Water Peach Honey mocktail.
    Coca-Cola’s AHA Sparkling Water Peach-Honey doubled down with a grilled peach/honey syrup and cinnamon-rimmed glass.
    300 East chef/owner Ashley Boyd in attendance tells Chef Bowling how much she liked the dessert.
    UP editor Kristen Wile with Chef Bowling.
    The Hot Box service team.
    Upcoming UP events. Save the dates! Members get an exclusive early access price. Not a member yet? Become one today!
     

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