by TM Petaccia

Founded in 2005 as a way to promote the city’s culinary brand, Charleston Wine + Food has achieved that and then some. It has become an international event, attracting participants and attendees to the South Carolina coastal town from around the world.

This year, three Charlotte chefs will be among the nearly 420 marquee chefs, mixologists, winemakers, authors, storytellers, artisans, and other food personalities in a celebration of lowcountry food and food culture, March 5-9.

Jamie Barnes, former chef/owner of What The Fries and now overseeing the pop-up dinner/music series, Serving The Culture, will be seen at two events. Island Time, Friday, March 7, focuses on the influence of Caribbean cultures on lowcountry cuisine. In this event, Barnes will serve salt & pepper fried snapper with cassava cornbread, candied habanero butter, and a rainbow chard slaw.

Big Shrimpin’, Sunday, March 9, is a celebration of all things shellfish — with a wide range of seafood dishes along with various beers and sparkling wines. Here, Barnes is preparing his take on the Filet O’ Fish sandwich, but using shrimp as the main ingredient. The sandwich will be composed of a shrimp mousseline fried in a crispy tempura batter, topped with rainbow chard tartar sauce on a potato roll, and accompanied by shrimp-seasoned fries. He has participated in the last four Charleston festivals.

“I love Charleston as a city,” Barnes says. “The culinary and cultural history, the beautiful scenery. After my first visit to the festival, I have always looked forward to returning. It’s like a family reunion. I get to see chefs and others who I haven’t seen all year. It’s a relaxing downtime for us chefs to go to a different location and be creative amongst new people.”

Chris Coleman, Built On Hospitality partner, which includes The Goodyear House, Old Town Kitchen & Cocktails, folia, and Chief’s, will be one of the chefs participating in the Sunday Culinary Village, the second half of the cornerstone two-day event, which offers a wide range of lowcountry food and beverage tastings, cooking demos, music, dancing, plus pop-up farmers market and “book nook.”

Coleman will participate in two food presentations as part of the Dukes Mayo Demo Kitchen. The first will be a “Sandwich Smackdown” against Gastonia-born Samantha Fore, now chef/owner of Tuk Tuk Snack Shop in Lexington, Kentucky. The second, sponsored by the European Union, will be a cooking demonstration using ingredients native to that part of the globe. This is the fifth time Coleman has participated in the event.

“Charleston is one of my favorite cities,” Coleman says. “I’ve developed some relationships down there with chefs. It’s always fun to catch up with them. In addition, participating has definitely contributed to the success of my own personal brand, which in turn contributes to the success of our restaurant group. It’s hard to track a return on investment for these types of events, but it is always nice to expose our brands to folks who might be traveling to Charlotte or might be from Charlotte.”

Reyaña Radcliff, chef/owner of Your Braisen Chef, a personal chef and corporate catering/demo provider, will be participating in the Saturday Culinary Village as well as Sunday’s Day Party — a formal hip-hop-themed brunch with various tasting tents along with sparkling wine and cocktails. For both events, she will create dishes inspired by her birthplace in New Orleans.

Her Saturday Culinary Village dish will be a jambalaya arancini with a creole tomato jam, while her Sunday Day Party dish will be a café au lait dipped beignet waffle with a fresh berry compote. This is Radcliff’s second consecutive year participating.

“I had a lot of fun last year,” Radcliff says. “I had a ton of fun meeting new chefs, and also chefs from Charlotte and chefs I met at other festivals that I’ve done. Whenever a lot of chefs are in town, you know where you’re going to hang out. I know where to find good food because I’ll ask around. Even before I get there, I’ll have my lineup ready. Participating in the festival definitely has created more opportunities for me as well.”

Also taking part this year is Richard Gruica, a chef and Charlotte resident who holds dual citizenship in Croatia. Gruica hosts guided culinary tours across the globe with his company The Gourmet Vacation. He’ll be doing a demo on Sunday during the festival’s Culinary Village.

Overall, Charleston Wine + Food will host 92 events over the five-day festival, many are sold out or have limited tickets remaining. Click here for the full event schedule.