Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Killing Ash. Welcome back into the studio. So good to
see you again.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Hi, thank you so much for having you.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
To see you. The Columbia Food and Wine Festival, that's
right now. I know this began in twenty eighteen, but
you guys are growing by leaps and bounds every year. Yes,
people rave over it, so I know they're going to
be interested in hearing about what's going to be new
and different this year, because it seems like there's something
always new and different.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Absolutely, I can't wait to divulge and go into all
of the details because we just have an incredible lineup
for this year's festival.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
I know it starts April twenty seconds.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Let's start there, Yes, so April twenty second through twenty six,
Wednesday through Sunday. On Wednesday, we have our kickoff dinner.
It's our only event. It is going to be at Hendrix,
but you're actually going to be going guests. We'll move
through four levels of that historic building because you'll start
in the basement where the brand new Dorsey Apostaco is
(00:55):
opening up. It's not open yet, but it will be
by the time the festival comes around, and then you'll
move and Pierce Bauers is one of my favorite pasta makers.
He's so talented, so that's going to be a real treat.
Then you'll move up to Black Dog Pizza they just
opened and have a little bite there, and then you'll
move up to another floor where you'll have your entree
(01:17):
at Hendricks and that will be a multi course collaboration
between multiple chefs where in an addition of Frank Bradley
from Hendricks are bringing in Alex Strickland from the Dragon
Room and Harold Pendleton from the Warmouth. So it's not
going to be just like your average dinner that you
can get out any night of the week. It's a
(01:38):
very special meal that they're putting together.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
I love that building, I know, I know.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
And you got to finish on the rooftop with cocktails
and desserts, of course you do.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
I interrupted your sorry with Ashley Elsie's We get ready
for the Columbia Food and Wine Festival, and this thing is,
like Jonathan said, getting bigger and bigger every year. I'm
looking obviously the kickoff on the twenty second, but every
day after that, it's like three or four events are happening. Yes,
and so maybe you could walk us through it, like,
how do you pick? I mean, there's so many great
(02:10):
options and things to do in Columbia that week. Obviously
you go to the website and go through that, but
what do you think.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Well, it's hard, right because I love each of these
events so much. Yeah, but honestly, it's even hard to
narrow it down and to get into this festival lineup.
The team goes through a very intensive process of making
sure that we are trying to represent the entire region
whenever we put this lineup of festival events together. So
(02:39):
we want to have things that are beyond just downtown.
We have an event over in Lake Murray that's called
Smoke on the Water, oh N at the brand new
Putnam's Harbor, and that is going to be a star
studded lineup of barbecue pitmasters. So that is featuring James
Bear finalist Robbie Robinson on city limits in West Columbia.
(03:05):
We were really proud of him and wanted to lift
that up and celebrate that big accomplishment this year. So
he'll be joined by Rodney Scott, a James Beard winner
from Charleston, and they are teaming up their buddies and
so they're going to put together a really special protein.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
We get Rodney's Got barbecue without having a.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Drive to Chucktown exactly, and then they'll be having a
conversation with five time world champion barbecue Myron Mixon. So
we have some really big barbecue star power.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Maybe we can learn tips from these people exactly.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
I love it learning. I know that maybe maybe you
don't want to be an interrupt yet I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Oh no, no, no, taking you to learn.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
And there's several initiatives at the Food and Wine Festival.
Absolutely one stands on. One of them is education. One
of them obviously is supporting our culinary, the restaurants and
persons inside the industry here as well. And then there
was another initiative, and I remember reading about it on
the web page, but the title of that is escaping me.
Help me about the third.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Initiative guest Experience.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Yes, guest experience, of course, that's what we're talking about. Yes,
So talk a little bit about maybe some of the
things we haven't discussed as you are, making sure that
we cover those three areas and what people are, what
the community benefits, and how they benefit in particular about
the education.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Yes, absolutely, I'm glad you asked that because one thing
is that we want people to walk away from each
event one with a little razzle, dazzle, a little sparkle,
a little something that you wouldn't normally get whenever you're
going out to eat or going one of these restaurants.
So something that's a wow factor you'll find at every
single event. Then you'll also have that educational component. So
(04:42):
like you said, you're here, you're getting to learn from
these pitmasters, or you're doing a hands on workshop at
Chef's Secrets and Banadas and Salsa Workshop where you're learning
from chef Javier Uriarte and Chef David Grillo on how
they like to put together their saucas and roll the
dough and filled and filled them bans and fire them up.
(05:05):
So that educational piece is you'll find every single event.
And then, of course, last but not least, is lifting
up and spotlighting our culinary community, because that's that's why
we're all here. I think we have this amazing culinary.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Scene that's fair certainly growing, very.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Much so, and I like to say it's been quietly thriving.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
I like that, Yes, it is. It's growing out of
the vistance, spreading out across the city.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Now all right, Oh, yes, we have restaurants and we
have food and wine festival events that take place across
the whole Greater region because you find great food and
all hearts and pockets of Columbia and we want to celebrate.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Actually, are people tracking where the visitors are coming from
for these festivals, because I'm thinking that this thing has
got to be grown, because I went to like a
couple of events last year and some of them are
just cham packed, especially the last day. I imagine people
are coming in from all over the state for this
and maybe even other states.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Yes, all from the southeast and beyond. So we do
we track zip codes, and that's one of our biggest
kind of performance indicators because we want to continue seeing
people from outside of the city coming into Columbia and
spending a long weekend here coming to the festival and
also experiencing restaurants and hotels and all of the amazing
(06:27):
attractions that we have in the region outside of the festival.
So that's our goal, and we have seen every year
in uptick in that number.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
So we hope we're ready for hospitality tax. Yes, absolutely,
thank you for coming in from out of town. And
adding to our budget. And yes, you enjoy your hotels
stay as well, Yes, yes, excellent. Well, now you have
a lot of supporters on this Mary's here from the
Post and Courier. They're a big supporter of this event. Yes,
are there other companies or other industries that we should
salute as well? Well?
Speaker 2 (06:56):
We partner with of course, a posting courier is kind
of our homes. They founded. The Free Times founded this
event nine years ago. Many people don't know, but there's
a lot of regions have food and wine festivals. And
really back nine years ago, I had the honor of
serving on the advisory committee. But a bunch of the
Free Times in Five Point Association got a bunch of
(07:19):
food and wine people together in hospitality and said, hey,
we want to do a festival here in Columbia. Everyone
else is doing it, why aren't we doing it? So
that first year it was just the one, one day
tasting event. And now, like we said, it's five days,
thirteen events all across the region, and it's just grown tremendously.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Yeah, move over Greenville and look out Charleston, because we
got you in our bullseye.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
That's right, Discover the South's best kept culinary secret, right,
Columbia Food and Wine Festival.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Yeah, and so if you go to Colafood and Wine
dot com, that's where you get more information. And you know,
I think off the year you and I were kind
of talking about. Look, obviously this is open to everybody.
Everybody can come and have a great time, but there
are some movers and shakers in our town that more
maybe a little more elevated VIP experience. There's some opportunities
there as well.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yes, definitely, And I'm glad that you brought that up
because we introduced a new program this year called Taste Makers.
And this is for those people who love to come
to the festival and it's a patron giving level, so
they want to get even more involved. They understand our mission,
they want to see Columbia's culinary scene grow, and this
is your chance to kind of get more involved and
be a part of that mission and celebrating that. So
(08:27):
if you become a Taste Maker, you not only get
a VIP ticket to our grand Tasting on Sunday, which
is a hot commodity because those things sell out fast, yes,
but you also receive an invite to our private preview
party which happens on Tuesday, April twenty first. So you
have to be a taste maker to come to the
(08:48):
preview party and we want everybody to We want you
to come it.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Yay, Yeah, Ashley Elsie. Is there anything else we did
not cover? Because make sure while we got you here,
we get to squeeze all the juice out of you.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Well, you know, I could talk about each event for
probably thirty minutes. We have a cheese rave this year.
I bet you've never gone to a cheese rave before, right,
So we're excited about that. That's going to be Friday
night from nine pm until midnight, so a little bit
of a later night. We'll have multiple DJs kind of
(09:22):
pairing that music with certain types of cheese and cheese
related foods.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Last year, I got the necklace thing that holds the glass,
the wine glass and.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Very important accessory.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Are we doing that again this year? I've never seen that.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Absolutely, you have to have your wine lanyard. Yes, Yes,
the hottest successory of the season.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Yeah, it's so cool.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Listen you can obviously as a web page of Kelly mentioned,
you want to mention it one more time? You always
go there and get more information because you have a
lot of things to brag about and people do want
to miss out on the opportunity, so share that again
with us.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Yes, I'm head over to Colafood and Wine dot com
and also check us out on social media.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
And this can sell out, so don't don't snooze on it.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
It will sell out. Multiple of our events are close
to selling out already and we just launched tickets a
few days ago, so it is not one of those
ones to wait on. You don't want to sleep on.
Columbia Food and Wine Festival.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Ashley Elsie, thank you so much for your time, Thank
Speaker 2 (10:25):
You guys for having us, and we can't wait to
see you out April twenty second through twenty six
Killing Ash. Welcome back into the studio. So good to
see you again.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Hi, thank you so much for having you.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
To see you. The Columbia Food and Wine Festival, that's
right now. I know this began in twenty eighteen, but
you guys are growing by leaps and bounds every year. Yes,
people rave over it, so I know they're going to
be interested in hearing about what's going to be new
and different this year, because it seems like there's something
always new and different.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Absolutely, I can't wait to divulge and go into all
of the details because we just have an incredible lineup
for this year's festival.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
I know it starts April twenty seconds.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Let's start there, Yes, so April twenty second through twenty six,
Wednesday through Sunday. On Wednesday, we have our kickoff dinner.
It's our only event. It is going to be at Hendrix,
but you're actually going to be going guests. We'll move
through four levels of that historic building because you'll start
in the basement where the brand new Dorsey Apostaco is
(00:55):
opening up. It's not open yet, but it will be
by the time the festival comes around, and then you'll
move and Pierce Bauers is one of my favorite pasta makers.
He's so talented, so that's going to be a real treat.
Then you'll move up to Black Dog Pizza they just
opened and have a little bite there, and then you'll
move up to another floor where you'll have your entree
(01:17):
at Hendricks and that will be a multi course collaboration
between multiple chefs where in an addition of Frank Bradley
from Hendricks are bringing in Alex Strickland from the Dragon
Room and Harold Pendleton from the Warmouth. So it's not
going to be just like your average dinner that you
can get out any night of the week. It's a
(01:38):
very special meal that they're putting together.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
I love that building, I know, I know.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
And you got to finish on the rooftop with cocktails
and desserts, of course you do.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
I interrupted your sorry with Ashley Elsie's We get ready
for the Columbia Food and Wine Festival, and this thing is,
like Jonathan said, getting bigger and bigger every year. I'm
looking obviously the kickoff on the twenty second, but every
day after that, it's like three or four events are happening. Yes,
and so maybe you could walk us through it, like,
how do you pick? I mean, there's so many great
(02:10):
options and things to do in Columbia that week. Obviously
you go to the website and go through that, but
what do you think.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Well, it's hard, right because I love each of these
events so much. Yeah, but honestly, it's even hard to
narrow it down and to get into this festival lineup.
The team goes through a very intensive process of making
sure that we are trying to represent the entire region
whenever we put this lineup of festival events together. So
(02:39):
we want to have things that are beyond just downtown.
We have an event over in Lake Murray that's called
Smoke on the Water, oh N at the brand new
Putnam's Harbor, and that is going to be a star
studded lineup of barbecue pitmasters. So that is featuring James
Bear finalist Robbie Robinson on city limits in West Columbia.
(03:05):
We were really proud of him and wanted to lift
that up and celebrate that big accomplishment this year. So
he'll be joined by Rodney Scott, a James Beard winner
from Charleston, and they are teaming up their buddies and
so they're going to put together a really special protein.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
We get Rodney's Got barbecue without having a.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Drive to Chucktown exactly, and then they'll be having a
conversation with five time world champion barbecue Myron Mixon. So
we have some really big barbecue star power.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Maybe we can learn tips from these people exactly.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
I love it learning. I know that maybe maybe you
don't want to be an interrupt yet I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Oh no, no, no, taking you to learn.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
And there's several initiatives at the Food and Wine Festival.
Absolutely one stands on. One of them is education. One
of them obviously is supporting our culinary, the restaurants and
persons inside the industry here as well. And then there
was another initiative, and I remember reading about it on
the web page, but the title of that is escaping me.
Help me about the third.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Initiative guest Experience.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Yes, guest experience, of course, that's what we're talking about. Yes,
So talk a little bit about maybe some of the
things we haven't discussed as you are, making sure that
we cover those three areas and what people are, what
the community benefits, and how they benefit in particular about
the education.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Yes, absolutely, I'm glad you asked that because one thing
is that we want people to walk away from each
event one with a little razzle, dazzle, a little sparkle,
a little something that you wouldn't normally get whenever you're
going out to eat or going one of these restaurants.
So something that's a wow factor you'll find at every
single event. Then you'll also have that educational component. So
(04:42):
like you said, you're here, you're getting to learn from
these pitmasters, or you're doing a hands on workshop at
Chef's Secrets and Banadas and Salsa Workshop where you're learning
from chef Javier Uriarte and Chef David Grillo on how
they like to put together their saucas and roll the
dough and filled and filled them bans and fire them up.
(05:05):
So that educational piece is you'll find every single event.
And then, of course, last but not least, is lifting
up and spotlighting our culinary community, because that's that's why
we're all here. I think we have this amazing culinary.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Scene that's fair certainly growing, very.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Much so, and I like to say it's been quietly thriving.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
I like that, Yes, it is. It's growing out of
the vistance, spreading out across the city.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Now all right, Oh, yes, we have restaurants and we
have food and wine festival events that take place across
the whole Greater region because you find great food and
all hearts and pockets of Columbia and we want to celebrate.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Actually, are people tracking where the visitors are coming from
for these festivals, because I'm thinking that this thing has
got to be grown, because I went to like a
couple of events last year and some of them are
just cham packed, especially the last day. I imagine people
are coming in from all over the state for this
and maybe even other states.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Yes, all from the southeast and beyond. So we do
we track zip codes, and that's one of our biggest
kind of performance indicators because we want to continue seeing
people from outside of the city coming into Columbia and
spending a long weekend here coming to the festival and
also experiencing restaurants and hotels and all of the amazing
(06:27):
attractions that we have in the region outside of the festival.
So that's our goal, and we have seen every year
in uptick in that number.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
So we hope we're ready for hospitality tax. Yes, absolutely,
thank you for coming in from out of town. And
adding to our budget. And yes, you enjoy your hotels
stay as well, Yes, yes, excellent. Well, now you have
a lot of supporters on this Mary's here from the
Post and Courier. They're a big supporter of this event. Yes,
are there other companies or other industries that we should
salute as well? Well?
Speaker 2 (06:56):
We partner with of course, a posting courier is kind
of our homes. They founded. The Free Times founded this
event nine years ago. Many people don't know, but there's
a lot of regions have food and wine festivals. And
really back nine years ago, I had the honor of
serving on the advisory committee. But a bunch of the
Free Times in Five Point Association got a bunch of
(07:19):
food and wine people together in hospitality and said, hey,
we want to do a festival here in Columbia. Everyone
else is doing it, why aren't we doing it? So
that first year it was just the one, one day
tasting event. And now, like we said, it's five days,
thirteen events all across the region, and it's just grown tremendously.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Yeah, move over Greenville and look out Charleston, because we
got you in our bullseye.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
That's right, Discover the South's best kept culinary secret, right,
Columbia Food and Wine Festival.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Yeah, and so if you go to Colafood and Wine
dot com, that's where you get more information. And you know,
I think off the year you and I were kind
of talking about. Look, obviously this is open to everybody.
Everybody can come and have a great time, but there
are some movers and shakers in our town that more
maybe a little more elevated VIP experience. There's some opportunities
there as well.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yes, definitely, And I'm glad that you brought that up
because we introduced a new program this year called Taste Makers.
And this is for those people who love to come
to the festival and it's a patron giving level, so
they want to get even more involved. They understand our mission,
they want to see Columbia's culinary scene grow, and this
is your chance to kind of get more involved and
be a part of that mission and celebrating that. So
(08:27):
if you become a Taste Maker, you not only get
a VIP ticket to our grand Tasting on Sunday, which
is a hot commodity because those things sell out fast, yes,
but you also receive an invite to our private preview
party which happens on Tuesday, April twenty first. So you
have to be a taste maker to come to the
(08:48):
preview party and we want everybody to We want you
to come it.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Yay, Yeah, Ashley Elsie. Is there anything else we did
not cover? Because make sure while we got you here,
we get to squeeze all the juice out of you.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Well, you know, I could talk about each event for
probably thirty minutes. We have a cheese rave this year.
I bet you've never gone to a cheese rave before, right,
So we're excited about that. That's going to be Friday
night from nine pm until midnight, so a little bit
of a later night. We'll have multiple DJs kind of
(09:22):
pairing that music with certain types of cheese and cheese
related foods.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Last year, I got the necklace thing that holds the glass,
the wine glass and.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Very important accessory.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Are we doing that again this year? I've never seen that.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Absolutely, you have to have your wine lanyard. Yes, Yes,
the hottest successory of the season.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Yeah, it's so cool.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Listen you can obviously as a web page of Kelly mentioned,
you want to mention it one more time? You always
go there and get more information because you have a
lot of things to brag about and people do want
to miss out on the opportunity, so share that again
with us.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Yes, I'm head over to Colafood and Wine dot com
and also check us out on social media.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
And this can sell out, so don't don't snooze on it.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
It will sell out. Multiple of our events are close
to selling out already and we just launched tickets a
few days ago, so it is not one of those
ones to wait on. You don't want to sleep on.
Columbia Food and Wine Festival.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Ashley Elsie, thank you so much for your time, Thank
Speaker 2 (10:25):
You guys for having us, and we can't wait to
see you out April twenty second through twenty six
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