Missed this year’s Charleston Wine + Food Festival? Go ahead and mark your calendars for next year’s big event (March 4 – 8, 2020), because if you like food and drink, the long weekend festival is a must!

Springer Mountain Farms set up shop in one corner of the Culinary Village at this year’s event, with renowned chefs from around the Southeast preparing their favorite SMF chicken dishes in front of a hungry audience.

On Friday, Greg Collier from Charlotte prepared Tennessee-seasoned chicken thigh for his Southern Banh Mi (blue corn hoe cake, country pate with chicken, pickled veggies, charred jalapeno aioli). Saturday saw the battle of chicken wings between Thomas Marlow of Mimosa Grill and Paul Verica of The Stanley. Chef Marlow’s take was a Carolina Smoked Wing with kale and blue cheese slaw (and that sauce had a little southern kick!), while Chef Verica drenched his wings in a tasty Alabama White Sauce. Both were definite winners.

In another corner of the Village, the city of Charlotte was featured prominently at the “Charlotte’s Got A Lot” tent, where various CLT chefs and mixologists took the stage each day.

Here is a deeper look at three crowd favorites over the weekend:

Shai Fargian – Yafo

Certified Angus Beef kofta on a cinnamon stick brochette with herbed tahini over a Seranno pepper and tomato salad

Thomas Marlow – Mimosa Grill

Border Springs Denver lamb ribs, sorghum caramel with hazelnut and tarragon

Zhang Qian and John Nisbet – The Dumpling Lady

Pork and chive dumplings, shrimp and chicken dumplings, Burning Noodles, shredded chicken 

Cheers to the incredible talent representing Springer Mountain Farms and the city of Charlotte at one of the country’s best food and wine festivals!