Food & Wine Classic in Charleston Recap Pt 1

On today's episode of Stoned Appetit presented by Meraki Cannabis & NOBO Dispensary we recap the gnarly weekend that was in the Low Country of Charleston, SC. 

We sit down with esteemed Chef Rodney Scott, Chefs Emma Cromedy & Chef Semeka Jenkins for a High 5 of Five Questions in Five minutes... but before that we have to break down the whole weekend that was. Give the flowers to those who are responsible for making my work dreams come true and name drop some folks I am now lucky enough to call friends. 

CB will be missing in action for the next few weeks but don't worry, we've got some great folks to fill his shoes while he is away. Tune in for a few laughs, wonderful insight & a lot of Kip gushing about the experience of a lifetime.

One extra shoutout to the wonderful fam from Food & Wine Magazine, Byrdhouse PR, Southern Living, Travel & Leisure for letting me partake in this weekend's festivites... y'all made this hungry stoner's month with all the divine eats and premier access. And a special nod to my sister from another mister, Sarah Abell. Thank you for letting me tag along with you all the time (this weekend included), you're an unbelievable friend and mentor. I love ya and can't tell you how much I value your friendship and guidance. 

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stoned-appetit--3077842/support.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, it's time for the Food and Wine Classic
and Charleston Recap presented by our friends at Nobo Dispensary
based right here in Denver, Colorado. I know it may
still be illegal in parts of this country, but we
have some kick ass dispensaries out here in Colorado. So
if you're coming out for ski season, if you're coming

(00:21):
out for concerts at Red Rocks, or maybe you're listening
to this to get queued up and excited for Food
Wine Classic and Aspen twenty twenty six, y'all need to
check out our friends at Nobo Dispensary located at ninety
seventy Lincoln Street. They have unbelievable array of products, including
some of our favorites and our other friends from the

(00:42):
podcast sponsorship like Muraki Cannabis. Muraki Cannabis is probably making
a name for themselves across the country, especially in the
hospitality world, because the approachable price point, the quality buzz,
and the tasty flavor profiles that all of the strains,
the terps, the whole kit and kaboodle from their concentrates,

(01:02):
their vapes, their flour, their pre rolls. You can't beat
it with a stick. You can find them not only
at NOBO, but you can find them up in the
High Country. If you're Breckinridge bound to eat at James
Beard Award winning restaurants like Rootstalk, you can snag them
at Breconridge Organic or thirty plus some odd locations across
the metro, but we thoroughly recommend getting them at NOBO Dispensary.

(01:27):
Today's episode is also presented by our friends over at
Food and Wine Magazine. You're gonna hear me glaze a
lot of people over the next couple of weeks. You're
gonna hear me name drop a lot of names from
the culinary and industry and community. And the only reason
we have access to those is because the family from

(01:48):
Food and Wine Magazine allow us to be a part
of their circle and their network. And I cannot tell
you how thankful I am for them. And obviously the
Birdhouse hos PR firm based out of Charleston was nice
enough to set up a lot of these interviews for us,
all of them in fact, or well most of them

(02:09):
in fact. But you've heard us say it time and
time again. We love the family from Food and Wine Magazine.
And it doesn't stop with just their event space, there's
social media platform, their approachability in their magazine and creating
this digital platform where the at home chef or culinary

(02:29):
you know cook can actually get their hands dirty as well.
The Food and Wine magazine team works tirelessly not only
to throw on great events, but also to put palatable
and refreshing content out there. And none of this would
be it possible without all of the aforementioned brands, people
and teams. And we just can't thank them enough. Zaane

(02:51):
hit the music, Let's get this party started.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
The suppression of the use of marijuana, and these is
running behind it are the most important jobs.

Speaker 3 (03:12):
Is talkingnology ninety day, the records.

Speaker 4 (03:15):
On Marijuana, and the Washington An Arconic Division actually build
a small former like that today.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
They built a.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
Pattern Welcome ladies and gentlemen, Coloradians and everyone that's mort
enough to listen from the outside. One of the most
amazing plants we've ever discovered.

Speaker 3 (03:35):
The pot talking the trippers, the glass opis, the hip
books all gathered in secrecy, and the Flying Eye as
a country.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
All right, all right, all right, I'm back with bells
on from the Low Country with a big time I
can't tell y'all how much fun this is. You'll hear
us glaze the f FOD and Wine Classic and assmen
year after year, and rightfully so. It is the bell
of the ball. It is our super Bowl, and we

(04:10):
have called it that time and time again. And the
best way to describe what the Charlestons are the Food
and Wine Classic in Charleston is to say that it
is our world series, because goodness gracious, y'all, they do
not miss and you're right there in the middle of
America's pastime, a rich town of history, regal cuisine, and

(04:33):
it's just steeved with like bangers. Chefs from all over
Charleston show out and put their city on their shoulders
and showcase unbelievable Southern cuisine I cannot express. And I
you know, when I pitched Birdhouse pr again shout out
to them, for hey, why should I be allowed to

(04:55):
come to Charleston and be a part of these festivities
when you know, we've talked about imposter syndrome time and
time again. But what I said was I would love
to showcase the Southern cuisine, the Southern culture, and the
hospitality to those primarily in Colorado. Where a lot of

(05:16):
our listenership and where we call home so that they
can understand, because when you think of Nolin's, everyone's like,
oh yeah, it's a party scene. There's great food, there's
drinks in the streets and beads and titties on balconies.
Charleston's a different beast, but oh my gosh, it starts
with the hospitality and the folks in the community who

(05:39):
were kind enough to take us under their wing this
weekend Today's guests. At the end of this monologue, You're
going to be sick of my voice. I'm going to
be sick of my voice when I have to edit.
This whole fucking thing is we have Chef Rodney Scott,
the Hogmaster, the King of pitt I mean, he is

(06:01):
literally the best man. He does open fire pork like
nobody's business. And we sat there and picked his brain
for five or six minutes. We did the high five,
and then we sat down with Samika and Ema from
Carolima's Low Country Fucked this up every Time Cuisine. They're

(06:23):
a catering business that just bring the absolute heat, but
they also bring the best vibes, personality, and anything you
could ever ask for. And I think that is a
microcosm for what Charleston was this weekend. While they knocked
it out of the park with their high fives, the
whole city knocked it out of the park this weekend.

(06:44):
So I landed on Thursday, I went and got checked in.
It's just so pretty Like they take over the visitor center,
they take over, you know, different venues like the Charleston
Place Hotel. They use their banquet halls to do seminars
and beverage tastings and food tastings as you would see
and as we've talked about in the past of food

(07:06):
and wine, Classic and Aspen. But the difference in Charleston
and Aspen, and I told a multitude of folks this
is that the food of Charleston. It's you'll be hard
pressed to find a better city or town in America
with such rich tradition and a cuisine that is so

(07:28):
unique to their region and their area, juxtaposed to the
Las and the New York's of the world, where you
know it is still you know, it's a melting pot
of different cultures and cuisines. But what Charleston does so
well is that like they're in lockstep with one another
like it was beautiful, whether you were in the grand

(07:49):
tasting or if it was a party after the fact,
whether you just went to supper at somewhere like Jack
Rabbit Phillies, you went to you know, Leon's for just
you know, are boiled oysters, or if you were getting
pizza at Tuti's or biscuits and burgers at Low Down.
Every single restaurant they do not miss. And it wasn't

(08:11):
like they don't miss because everybody was in town this weekend.
This is just the status quo of Charleston. And I
had not been there in many moons, and you'll hear
us talk about that. I don't want to date myself
too many times, but it's been a decade and change
damn near two since I had been down there. And
when I was down there last time, I think I

(08:32):
was just chasing a cheap buzz and a good time
and eating kind of more casually, Whereas this time I
went with a more refined route. And I tell you
what they didn't miss. And you know, I obviously left
a lot on the table. People are gonna say, oh,
you didn't go to Chubby Fish, you didn't get the

(08:53):
cavea sandwich. You didn't get the crab fat oysters. And
that may be the case, and it's because we had
such a locked and loaded schedule calendar that you can't
do it all. And some of the places you probably
could at least find your way through, but you want
to make time to do other things where, you know,
we talked about those restaurants and everybody was in our

(09:15):
fucking dms telling us, go get those places, go eat
at you know, X and Y. We just saw that
Verns is one of you know, the first Michelin Stars
for the Southeast region, and they are, you know, an
award winning and very deserved restaurant. But I found myself
at a place called Hannibal's Soul Kitchen, where it's crab

(09:36):
rice and fried chicken and collar dreens and it's those
things that are reminiscent of our home that just make
you like swoon and like get teary eyed. It was
so exceptionally wonderful, and everywhere you go, the the community,
the restaurant tours, the chefs, the hosts of the parties

(09:58):
were unbelievable welcoming, and it's just it makes your heart
so full, your cup runneth over. And in the gratitude,
I cannot express how grateful I am that I had
the opportunity to go down there and goof off. And
I think it starts and we might as well just
kind of go through it chronologically. There's a gentleman by

(10:20):
the name of Andrew Calichio I believe Colaqio. Yeah, Andrew
loves is his name on social media. But he knows
his way around the Carolinas as well as the Southeast
food scene. And you know, he and I became friends
because of his stance on the Michelin Guide It. You know,

(10:44):
I saw it on social media and I'd start following
because of his coverage through the Southeast, and he kind
of had that same eloquence, but at the same time
of finding restaurants without necessarily always doing things because it
was a free meal, he's more than willing to go
out of his way and pay for his own meal,
which is a very novel concept in Colorado for somebody

(11:07):
that would have eighty some thousand followers. But he's a
righteous person, and with someone that has such a large platform,
he uses it to speak up when he thinks that
some folks were wronged, whether it's in the awards or
whether it's like whether someone's right it, you know, telling
folks where to eat. And so Andrew was nice enough

(11:28):
to let me tag along with him for dining out
through on Thursday evening. We went to a place called
Low Down, had exceptional biscuits, wonderful tuna, We ate fried
quail and he had this. He was like, this place
is the fucking best burger. You gotta try it. So

(11:49):
I tagged along with him. We had wine and goofed off.
And then the next thing, you know, Guinness shout out
to Guinness United States, and again Birdhouse pr if you
don't don't know them, you need to know them. They're
the who's who of the industry down there. They know
everyone and they can help you facilitate it. But they
introduced us to the folks from the Guinness United States

(12:12):
who invited us to the one six seven place, what
is it? Bar raw Bar one sixty seven, and the
Guinness had taken over the restaurant. And y'all know, I'm
not necessarily a beer drinker, but how they trans formed
their ingredients between their whole gamut of beverages into dishes

(12:36):
as well as paired items and menu items for us,
what as a four or five courser, it was exceptional.
So right out the gates, I'm eating full as a tick,
as on a dog's back, I'm happy as a clam,
and I try to get to sleep at a reasonable hour,
but find myself going out for cocktails with hospitality friends

(12:58):
and just cd die the tavernish bars. And that's the
great thing about it. You can go from a you know,
Michelin Star dining experience or appeared dinner to post it
up at a bar that has three dollars beers and
fucking crab claws, and it's just like, that's the full

(13:19):
gamut and range that this city has. And this is
before the gates even open. So on Friday morning, I
wake up hung over, is all piss and rightfully so,
and run right into a symposium with Chef Rodney Scott,
Chef Chris Shepherd, and Chef Gail Simmons, who, dear friends

(13:41):
of the podcast, you know, we've known Gail for a minute.
We've had the luxury of getting a goof off with
Chef Chris, and we had the pleasure of having Rodney
on the podcast later in this episode. But right out
of the motherfucking gates Friday morning, we're doing a meet
in three pretty much a breakfast seminar. And for those
in color, and we're dabbling in the Eastern time zone.

(14:03):
We were kind of in that struggle bus category of oh,
we're about to have you know, pulled port or you know,
like what do you call it pork spaghetti, that part
of the fatty lower belly that just is kind of
stringy in its own right, paired with three different sides
that are staples at Southern lunch menus and picnics, church lunches,

(14:26):
all of those things. Potato salad, corn bread. Chris Shepherd
did this coleslaw and you'll know, I'm not a big
Mayo guy, but don't tell anyone down there. They sucked
Duke's Mayo dick from the back. But I tell you what.
The potato salad, while Mayo based, it slapped. But the

(14:46):
slaw comboed with the port was just divine. And it's
right out the gates. Oh, by the way, it's also
paired with fucking wine. And you're just like, good golly,
it's we're out. We're on. We're hitting the ground running.
And so from there we interviewed chef Rodney with a
quick high five, and we galloped over to the Grand
Tasting where, let me tell you what, so I never

(15:10):
thought you would see a bigger spectacle or a more
you know, ban the Food and Wine Classic and Aspen
and I'll be hard pressed to put Charleston above it,
as we are biased for the home team, but they
don't miss down there in Charleston, especially when it comes
to food, partying and just having a good time. So
from eleven thirty till two, you're just sitting there in

(15:33):
the first wave, and I swear it's crabcakes, the ball
up your hands, the size of your fist, from the
Darling Oyster bar. There is what is it? It's the
Filipino restaurant Cultura that has loom pie, like those spring
rolled egg rolls that are fried with like a pulled

(15:53):
pork and like a little chutney or a corn slaw.
Underneath it there's oysters as far as the eye can see.
And for every single step you take looking for food,
there is a cocktail to pair with it. Whether you're
looking for a gin beverage, whether you're looking for a wine,
a tequila of bubbles, there's all of those things and

(16:14):
then similar to how the Food and Wine Classic and
Aspen goes, Charleston kind of has the same thing with
a setup booth. There's a Robert Mondavi shout out to
that crew for the hoot and the hallers. But Lexus,
one of the premier sponsors of Food and One Classics
both in Aspen and Charleston, has a setup where they
have showcasing chefs every day in every wave that are

(16:37):
doing some fun, delicious bites. And so what we got
to see was two friends of our chefs, Shoda and
Chef Justin Chappel. We're behind the booth at the Lexus
at the Lexus Demo, and they had this pork belly
And you can see all of these things on our
social media. Over a bed of collar greens. Y'all when

(17:00):
I tell y'all you can't beat it with a stick, well, yes, everyone. Sometimes,
like we'll say, port belly may be too fatty. Not this.
There was a proper cut of oomph in the meat
on the underside, and then there was a crispy topping
to it with those collared greens kind of having a
little bit of that kind of a peppery bite to

(17:21):
it that married that fatty rich flavor. It was divine.
And then you keep meandering through and then you run
into a friend of ours and another guest of the
podcast on the Food and Wine Classic series, chef Carrie Maury,
who is a world renowned baker because she has she

(17:43):
is the queen of the biscuit game. And you'll hear
her talk next week on the pod about her spot
called Callie's Hot Little Biscuits and you can't get enough
of biscuits. They had sweet, they had savory, and if
you're ordering through her websites, or if you ordering or
if you're buying them at Whole Foods or at a Publix,

(18:04):
if you're in the South, you can find the wide
array of different varietals of her biscuits. But they had
them mixed with They had them paired like a sweet
one paired with an espresso martini. They had a gin
salty dog, which oftentimes is thought of as like a
vodka cocktail that has a white grapefruit and a little

(18:24):
pizazz that was paired with a pickled cold shrimp over
in one of her buttry biscuits, y'all. I was like, fuck, yes,
you can't beat it with a stick, and then again
we ran into the folks from low down. We found
the teams from Bar and Raw one sixty seven, and
that is again just the tip of the iceberg. The
food is exquisite, and obviously the food is exquisite when

(18:49):
you're going to these other food festivals because they're highlighting
and showcasing all of these restaurant tours and chefs. But
the differentiator between this festival and a lot of the
other festivals that we attend, most of which are always
in the Western region, was that when you leave the grounds,

(19:09):
the dank food does not stop. It does not stop.
And while I love Aspen, the town and city, no
one's running to Aspen to eat at a lot of
those restaurants outside of Lake Bosque. The rest of them
are fucking chains that you can eat in Dallas, Vegas,
La Chicago, d C, New York. All of those spots,

(19:31):
like a lot of them, have locations elsewhere in the
country where you can get your fix of their bougie cuisine. Juxtapose,
Charleston is a community that is just second to none,
And to be honest, that may be a stretch because
I do have New Orleans as my Numero Uno and
cuisine towns. But Charleston now has reminded me as to

(19:53):
why and maybe one A and one B, because as
soon as you leave the fucking grounds, you're right back
at it. You're going to North Charleston to hit up
the pizza scene and Leon's for oysters and seafood and
chicken seandwiches, whether you're going a little further north to
get Asian you know from Jack Rabbit Phillies, like it

(20:16):
is so fucking good that even outside the gates where
they're showcasing all of these great chefs, and obviously a
lot of those chefs that we just mentioned whose restaurants
we just mentioned are in the tents, they're right back
in their restaurants after the fact. Would not I would
be remiss if I didn't give a shout out to
Chef Miles, who put up with my bullshit for two

(20:39):
full days, and my Sherpa and the Queen of our castle,
Miss Sarah Abel. If y'all don't know Sarah Abel, she
is uh. She doesn't need the accolade, she never asks
for them. But she works with a company called Baltz
and Co. She's also the president of et Denver, and

(21:00):
so when she speaks, I try to be quiet, which
is very rare for me. But what I try to
do is to make sure I don't burn bridges, especially
when she goes to bat and vouches for me or
gets me included or invited to events. And that's exactly
what she did. And I just love her to pieces.
And so I want to take a minute to say, Sarah,

(21:22):
I love you so much and I cannot tell you
how much I appreciate you letting me kind of be
that little brother that just tacked along this weekend. I
hope I didn't funck shit up too much. So, yes,
we did all of these other parties. We went out
to eat on our own volition. I may have missed
some of those sexy ones. And y'all seen in years

(21:43):
past that like the Food and Wine Classic and Assmen,
we have the luxury because of friends that we've met
through the industry that we are able to go to
the food and wine themed events. Well, this time we
did kind of the ancillary party like the ones like
I mentioned earlier with the Guinness Food Scene. This year

(22:05):
we did something kind of in that same camp, and
we kind of have to earn your stripes. They're not
going to just invite you to go hang out with
you know, Manique Chuan Chalawan and you know Andrew Zimmern
and all. You know, like all of these chefs that
are doing private events without showing that you belong there

(22:26):
or that you can earn and you know, present yourself.
And so that's kind of what we tried to do.
Not only did I not try to burn any bridges
where Sarah helped fortify them, but at the same time,
I wanted to make sure that I could showcase what
we're able to do so that if we do return,
or if we're able to return next year, they're like, fuck,
we got to get Kipt to this party. We got

(22:47):
to get into that party, because he really tried, you know,
he tries to promote, you know, the greatness that is
this community, this cuisine and all the people that are
a part of it. And so while you know, some
folks go this route, I went this route. Some folks
go this route. You know, we as a group with
some other locations and it was large in part because

(23:08):
this community has welcomed me in. And so there is
this party and you'll have heard us talk about the
Blackbird App. And you'll hear me talk about the Blackbird
App a little bit more at the end of this
episode before we dive into the podcast to interviews. But
the Blackbird team is it's an app. It's an app
that I've called has gamified dining out. It's not. Folks

(23:32):
often try to compare it to things like, oh, it's
like in kind where you get buy one, get one
entrees or this and that kind of concept. It's much different.
What they use is their platform to help market restaurants
to larger communities and help incentivize folks to dine out

(23:52):
at specific restaurants in their network. And they started in
the Northeast. They are in a lot of cities San Francisco,
they recently launched in LA They're obviously here in Denver,
but they have been in Charleston for a long time
and I saw their pucks everywhere. So they the proof

(24:14):
is in the pudding that people and these restaurant tours
and a heavily you know, culinarily rich community believe in
this app. And so Blackbird hosted a party one evening
at King Leon's where it was a who's who and
we try not to be those guys that nerd out

(24:34):
and ask for pictures with everybody or name drop everyone.
But and if you hate when we do that, you're
gonna want to fast forward through the next three minutes.
Because the Blackbird party was like the NBA All Star
Game for the culinary world. Not only did we get
to run into our buddy Mohammed from down north in Philadelphia,

(24:54):
who was partying up a storm A Z was there.
We saw chef Melissa Ke who all of which have
cookbooks that I just was nerding out. I was like,
I need you to sign my cookbook. I need you
to do this, I need you to do that. We
got to hang out with a lot of friends that
we only see in the circuit. But we're doing it
while we're face fucking the greatest food ever. And so

(25:18):
we're sitting there talking with you know whomever it may be,
and they're walking up with chargrilled oyster, you know, duck fat,
french fries, fried chicken sandwiches like all bookoo dakeness and
Blackbird really doesn't skip a beat. Whether they're in Colorado,
whether they're in Charleston, whether they're in New York or
San Francisco. They've worked with and continue to work with

(25:41):
some of the best restauranteurs in those respected cities. And
they brought out everybody for this party. Like I nerded out,
I ran into Prairie Rose, the Drink Senior drink editor
for Food and Wine Magazine. It was awesome getting to
catch up with folks that you would otherwise only see

(26:01):
once a year. I now get to see him twice,
all the while eating really well. And so thanks again
to our friends over at Blackbird. And then before I
got out of Dodge, I obviously, you know, ever consumed
all three fucking days, four days. But Sunday morning, I
went right back to the seminars where Lucy Simon and

(26:23):
Ray Isles were doing a pairing. And this is for
my Colorado people. I will get the list for us.
We will talk in more detail about it. They did
a taco and wine pairing, which is right up our alley.
Because oftentimes, you know, when you talk about these food events,
or you talk about some of these meals that we have,

(26:44):
it's either unapproachable or you can't get a reservation, or
who's willing to spend six hundred dollars on this or that. Well,
they did something that was so fun and you know,
appeals to someone like my dumb ass who's just a
stoner idiot, which was, hey, are you having outpassed or tacos?
These are two fun wines that would really dance with those,

(27:09):
and I don't want to steal their thunder, so I'll
post the pictures on social media about the wines that
we were sipping at that. You know, they had a
breakfast taco and they're like, you know what pairs beautifully
with that salty briant. You know that salty bacon and
those creamy, cheesy eggs, and you know the difference of
what wines you would look for in a flower tortilla

(27:31):
and a corn tortilla. And the reason I bring up
the seminars because I've never taken more notes beyond when
Bobby and Carlin are speaking about Italian white wines in
these seminars than I did at this breakfast of Champions
Wine tasting. And the reason it was is because it
was so approachable and it's for everyone. And while I

(27:52):
understand the price point on these tickets can oftentimes be
intimidating if you're not in the hospitality industry, but just
yourself a Gormand or a foodie and don't have the
access that maybe we get through having the media badges,
and I get it completely. But what I can tell
you is that if you're on the fence about trying

(28:13):
something like this, or if you're like, well shit, it's
a little bit more palatable when looking at the price
of tickets and hotels and things to go to Charleston
rather than the Food and Wine Classic and Aspen that
there are a lot of these fun seminars that make
it approachable and easy to digest for those that maybe
aren't able to distinguish between specific herbs or seasonings, or

(28:39):
maybe they can't like catch the spices or the peppers
that maybe come off the tongue of a wine. There
are these fun angles that make it so approachable for
even dumbasses such as myself and probably a lot of
our listeners as well. But at the same time, it's
so much fun because everybody is so warm and welcoming,

(29:03):
And that's not just the Food Wine Classic in Charleston.
The Food and Wine Classic and ask It is the
same way. Like shout out to our friends Minit and Vivek.
I think I would be remiss if I didn't. Just
I want to give them a big virtual hug, and
I always want to ask her to be on the podcast,
but she's I would feel selfish because she is so

(29:24):
welcoming to everybody that approaches her. She is always willing
to answer questions during her seminars. She doesn't miss a
fucking picture that anybody asks her. If you just see
her out and about around the towns, whether it's Asthmen,
whether it's Charleston, she is the most approachably kind human
I have ever met. And you could say the same

(29:47):
for her husband. I absolutely love him to pieces and
he has taken me under his wing in terms of,
you know, explaining some Indian cuisines through seminars, are talking
about dishes our rest we should go to, as well
as including me in events that otherwise I would not
have access to. And I just love them, you know,

(30:09):
through and through, and I feel like they are the
quintessential like representation of what these food and wine classics
are all about. Like you see them on TV. You
want a fan boy or fangirl out and you're more
than welcome to do so. But when you realize that
they're kind of just like us, well, yes, they are

(30:30):
much more skilled, and they're even much much more kinder
than we are. They are unbelievably warm and easily approachable,
and it's just so neat to be able to see
all of these folks together having a big time and
letting you be a part of that big time with them,
And it doesn't matter who the fuck you are. But

(30:51):
what's cool is when they remember who you are because
you met one time ago, take a picture with them
and ask. Then you see them six months down the road,
and they don't forget who you are, even if you're
just like a random joe like myself, And it's just
the coolest experience I can ever express. Both the Food
and Wine Classic and Aspen and the Food and Wine
Classic and Charleston are these events that if you whether

(31:15):
you work in the industry, and you're like, maybe I
buy the trade show pass this year, maybe I get
the hospitality badge. Maybe I just go up and do
the ancillary parties that you're able to gain access through
through event brights or through who you know, or maybe
it's your toast rep or open table, whatever it may be.
I cannot express how much of a experience these two

(31:40):
weekends are and now as we wrap up our festival season,
I'm just over the moon smitten with the experience I have,
and I cannot wait for y'all to enjoy these interviews.
Starting today, we're just gonna go on order from day one.

(32:00):
With Chef Rodney Scott was our first interview. We did
a high five five minutes, and then we sat with
Samika and Ema for five minutes, and then I can't
remember Chris Shephard, and then we'll have Carrie and Hunter Lewis,
and then we'll just keep on going through them all
over the next couple of weeks, and we'll keep highlighting

(32:21):
all of their great cuisine and the experiences we had
from Charleston over the next couple weeks, because they all
deserve their flowers, and I want to put them all
on the forefront of just our pages. I know we're
just a small potato page by comparison. You know, these
chefs have millions and hundreds of thousands of followers. But

(32:42):
I can't thank them enough for allowing me to bend
their ear, or for them to take time out of
their schedule just to goof off and chat with a
lonely stolen, a lowly stoner such as myself. So, without
further ado, I want to introduce our High Five from
Food and Wine Classic and Charleston. And before we go,

(33:05):
be on the lookout. Today the Blackbird app is launching
a challenge with Eat Denver where you can win free
vacations to Aspen, Breckinridge, Veil and a litany of other
prizes all for dining out locally. So be on the
lookout for that on social media as well. But at

(33:28):
the same time, check out all of our recaps across
all of our platforms. And if you're on the fence
about grabbing tickets for the twenty twenty six events, whether
it's Aspen, whether it's Charleston, feel free to reach out
to me. I'll give you the whole rundown from where
to stay and to where you should be, you know,
focusing your efforts and seminars and beverages. Without further ado,

(33:51):
the High Five.

Speaker 2 (33:53):
And now I'm coming to y'all with the Sultan of Swine,
chef Pitmaster James Beard, Award winner author Ronnie Scott. Dude,
you just made fucking ballard breakfast.

Speaker 3 (34:04):
For a man. Yes, with the helpful Chris and Gail,
we made a nice breakfast. It was fun. I learned
a little myself, so it was awesome.

Speaker 2 (34:12):
Okay, So y'all actually were kind of talking about something
and I was gonna start with, like your early life.
I know that you know it was a family affair
growing up, and so I wanted to ask, when did
you really fall in love with food and realize, oh shit,
this may be what I want to do and pursue
because I know you'll have both a mounch of different
ventures growing up.

Speaker 3 (34:30):
Well, I fell in love with food as a child.
I always loved to eat because my family was always cooking.
Somebody was cooking something somewhere. But I really the oh
shit moment hit in nineteen eighty nine, when I was
about to graduate high school. I said, you know what,
this is automatic right here. This is something that's going
to always be in demand. I know how to do
one thing. I'm gonna push that out there and here
we are.

Speaker 1 (34:49):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (34:50):
So, Daniel Vaughan, he's been a guest of our podcast.
The man is a wizard, and his barbecue like nobody's business.

Speaker 1 (34:55):
Yes, he's a fan of Leen brisket, so we won't
judge him for that.

Speaker 2 (34:59):
But he's old, you, revolutionary and one of the best
pit masters.

Speaker 1 (35:03):
In the world.

Speaker 2 (35:03):
I appreciate that you and Chris were just in here
talking on stage about how you know, hog has come
to Texas and you know the brisket has come east. Yes,
But as you've started to expand your empire, how has
it been received going into different markets where you know,
everyone from Memphis to North Carolina are very pretentious and
protective of their own styles, sauces and cuisine.

Speaker 3 (35:24):
Yeah, understood. Everybody from different areas have their own mindset.
But I always say, I'm here to compliment, and I complicate.
I'm an addition to what's already here, So I kind
of stay focused in my own lane that way, I
don't kind of, you know, get off course on what
I do. So I always stay focused on what I
do and present the best that I can, respectfully to
everybody else in a different style that's in that area.

Speaker 2 (35:47):
And you know, the different styles are kind of an
interesting thing because as we see obviously you know you're
a Beard winner, You've kind of been you were one
of the first pitmasters to earn that recognition, and now
we're starting to see a Michelin guide come through the
South go to access and recognize more barbecue businesses. Wells Franklin,
you know, I think y'all spoke about ten of them
up on the stage here today. What is it that's

(36:09):
going to blaze trails in the future for the barbecue
team to kind of continue to like garner that recognition
but also be like, shit, we're just as good as
you know those, you know, Michelin, Stars of New York
shout out to erkra Fern.

Speaker 3 (36:22):
Yeah, honestly, I feel like consistency is the key to
all of that. You know, if we keep presenting what
we do the best thing we can, I feel like
everybody else is going to respect it a lot more
and not see it as a weakened thing that a
lot of folks doing on. So honestly, I feel like
it's going to grow, grow, grow because of the consistency
to flavor and the simplicity of it. It's not simple,
but simplicity of meat and fire and friends. Oh man,

(36:46):
it's it's for me that's special, and I feel like
that's more of a relaxed environment than a fine dining
restaurant with me. So I feel like it's going to
continue to grow with that respect by still keeping that
same consistent simplicity, and it seems.

Speaker 2 (36:59):
Like you foss community. Like he mentioned earlier, it's like
it's not necessarily keep it simple stupid as folks say it.
But you were like, we throw this on like neckag
straight on the fire, grab a beer, enjoy the next
thirteen hours with camaraderie. I then go about the process.
So you've kind of got that fine too. These next
couple questions and then I swear I'll get out of
your hair. These are from our community and they're just

(37:21):
idiot stoner munching questions. If you had to be a dinosaur,
what dinosaur would you mean?

Speaker 3 (37:27):
Oh? Man, I don't want to be that t rex
because his arms are too short. I need full range.
I need full range, So definitely not a t rex.
Oh man, I can't remember the other name I was trying.

Speaker 2 (37:37):
To think of, like just meat eaters specifically for you. Now, man,
Oh that's great.

Speaker 1 (37:42):
Okay, So here's the next one.

Speaker 2 (37:44):
What's your favorite grocery store isle?

Speaker 3 (37:46):
My favorite grocery store aisle is probably the Spice Isle
because I tend to go down to Spice Isle more
than any of them. And not only do I see
who all is there, but I will grab some different
spices and try them out myself.

Speaker 2 (37:57):
I thought you were gonna say the meat section, but
you mentioned earlier that you have one purveyor for your
pigs and he works almost exclusively before you running from
your now for location shout out to Alabama. So I
was kind of surprised to your splices, but that is
you know, the trick of the trade.

Speaker 1 (38:11):
Of the barbecue.

Speaker 3 (38:12):
Go down to spiceile first, then go to the meats there.

Speaker 2 (38:15):
I like where your head's okay, last question of the day,
and then I'll get out of your hair.

Speaker 1 (38:19):
It's called the last supper.

Speaker 2 (38:20):
You can have three people dead or alive, but they
cannot be friends or family showIn you for your last supper?

Speaker 1 (38:26):
What are you eating and who is joining?

Speaker 3 (38:28):
Man? First of all, we're gonna definitely do some barbecue.
We're gonna do some ribs. We're gonna do uh some chicken,
and I would want Julia serving Doctor j there oh
Man a legend, love that guy.

Speaker 4 (38:44):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (38:45):
I would probably definitely want to feed well, the President
Barack Obama, definitely want to feed him. Who else will
I have at that dinner if they're dead? Was a
guy I definitely wanted to cook for because he was

(39:06):
a genius, genius man. That dude was automatic.

Speaker 2 (39:11):
He's one that also had his fingers in a lot
of Poe's Like he did so many different things and
were so many hats.

Speaker 1 (39:16):
That's a table full of conversation. And what would we
be smoking on the grill? Oh?

Speaker 4 (39:20):
Man?

Speaker 3 (39:20):
We we do the whole hog. Of course, we do
some ribs and then the chicken. We would do and
have like a nice spicy sauce for the chicken. Ah
man uh in Brussels sprouts with the rip rub on it.
Grilled corn street corn that we do, salty, tasty and
it's a lot suburban. Yeah, what's your drink of choice?

Speaker 1 (39:43):
Is it?

Speaker 4 (39:44):
Like?

Speaker 1 (39:44):
Its? Are you a will white guy?

Speaker 3 (39:47):
What regard to well, my go to is pretty much
on how I'm feeling. I might do eagle rare today.
I might do a Scotch tomorrow. You know, I might
do the Blantons when I'm really wanting to relax. Uh.
There's a lot of brown water, am I? So it's
like pick and choose one.

Speaker 2 (40:02):
It's the season four with the crisp a football's on
always always, Chef, I can't thank you enough thank you
for just hitting the high five. I hope you have
a wonderful Food Wine Classic here in Charleston, housing.

Speaker 1 (40:14):
Out to Colorado.

Speaker 2 (40:15):
We love that man, Thank you, thank you so much.
I appreciate it. And we're alive. All right, y'all, We're
back with another rendition of the high five from the
Food and Wine Classic in Charleston. We're sitting down with
Samika Jenkins and Ema Coromedy fucking from Carolina Low Country

(40:39):
Kitchen here in Charleston, South Carolina Low Country Cuisin God,
damn it, y'all, this is like my fourth try. We've
been having a big time. Obviously, Food and Wine Magazine
puts on a hell of a party. But we're down
here this weekend to tell folks. You'll heard us talk
about it on our podcast time and time again as
two folks from the South, but we all need to

(41:00):
know about Charleston. It's in a league of its the food,
the cuisine, the culture of the character, the architecture. It's
leaps and bounds different than everywhere else in the South.
And how we speak about New Orleans, it's in the
same vein, but almost like y'all are like more refined
and y'all are two like chefs that are like foundations

(41:21):
of the community, and so I genuinely appreciate y'all taking
the time to chat.

Speaker 1 (41:25):
With me today.

Speaker 5 (41:26):
We're happy to be here.

Speaker 2 (41:27):
You say that now, but in six minutes you're gonna
be like, get me the fuck out of here. Ladies,
we've kind of been asking the same question right out
the gate, and it's something just to kind of get
a lay of the land. When was it that y'all
kind of figured out the kitchen was y'all? Y'all loved it.
Y'all were like, I want to be in hospitality. I
love serving and working in the community. When did y'all

(41:49):
fall in love with hospitality industry?

Speaker 1 (41:51):
In the culinary world?

Speaker 5 (41:52):
For me, I would say, nine, oh shit, you have
an exact day.

Speaker 4 (41:56):
Yeah, wow, nine, that's my story, sticking to it. It's
easy bake oven time, believe it or not. When I
was the little sister I still am, she would ask
me to cook for her, like, if I'm in the
kitchen making.

Speaker 5 (42:12):
The sandwich oven, yeah, with the easy bake oven.

Speaker 4 (42:16):
If I'm in the kitchen making the breakfast sandwich, She'll say, oh,
make me one too, got you so I was always
to show it all to cook.

Speaker 2 (42:23):
What's the tried and true recipe that grew up? You're like,
I got this down like for us my grandmother's from Mobile, Alabama.
It was like a blue crab gumba that we were like,
I can do it in my sleep. If someone asked
for the recipe, I'm like, I don't have it for you.
It's just up here. What was it that You're like,
I got this down, pat like we can. This is
a foundation we can build on.

Speaker 5 (42:41):
I would say old fashioned pound cake. I'm a pound
cake lover. I'm a love it like clean. I'm classic
old fashioned pound cake.

Speaker 4 (42:53):
You could eaither day one, or you could wait a
couple of days and toss it in the frying pan
on each side to get a car, throw it on
the grill.

Speaker 2 (43:01):
Like almost like a French or like a god like
a French toast like breakfast or all emmertal top.

Speaker 1 (43:06):
Oh yeah, I'll talk dirty to me. I love it, Okay.

Speaker 2 (43:10):
So you know, we we hyped on Charleston kind of
being different than the rest of the world, and it's
an exemplary showcase this weekend, highlighting not only local cuisine
but chefs coming from all around the country to also
use their skill set and highlight ingredients from y'all's community.
What is so different about Charleston that folks wouldn't only

(43:30):
understand if they were either to come try the food
or make a week and visit. I saw you have
to answer that, I saw you come on.

Speaker 4 (43:38):
I think we have a very unique market here in
Charleston because we have so many locally sourced fresh ingredients,
especially down to what we call our creek shrimp. I
was just telling someone the other day, I bought thirty
pounds of local shrimp from a guy. He had it
in a cooler and his driveway with my name on it,
and I dropped the money in the cooler, and that

(44:00):
my strengthen my home. I can't imagine doing that anywhere
else in the country.

Speaker 1 (44:04):
You really can't.

Speaker 2 (44:05):
And nowadays with so many folks, whether they're trying to
open ten restaurants or they're just trying to make the
margins meet, this almost has that European feel, or like
that Central American field where you go to whether it's
a daily market, but there's fresh ingredients. You're not buying
as much US foods or Cisco. While we do love
them and they serve a purpose. We heard Rodney in
our first episode was talking about he has one pig

(44:28):
purveyor for his restaurants, and it's like you foster those
relationships and you kind of work with those ingredients that
are around you. What are some of the hits, Like
if someone comes down here, what are some things that
they need to get from either y'all's restaurant or restaurants
in the area.

Speaker 4 (44:43):
So we actually don't have a restaurant, okay catering, so
you have to catch us at an event every now
and then we'll do a pop up. I just don't
want people to come to the city and think they
can pull up at Carolina's because a lot of people
actually do, but you really can.

Speaker 5 (45:00):
You had to come.

Speaker 4 (45:01):
If you were coming to Charleston and you were trying things.
I would definitely shrimp and grits of course here because
it's made so many ways. It's made the old fashioned
way with a brown root gravy, or you have a
lobster bass, or you have.

Speaker 5 (45:20):
It just sarutage, shrimp and tassel ham.

Speaker 4 (45:23):
It. Yeah, shrimp and grits, red rice which is known
to this area. And then I would say for dessert,
definitely a Charleston Chewi, a Charleston cheli, Right, Charleston Chewi
is a brown sugar bar made with pecans. And growing

(45:47):
up we only had them at like weddings and baby showers,
but now, along with the help of the Internet, we
have it at every event. It's it's the best thing
to have anytime. It's a great snack. You can get
it with pecans without pecans. Now whereon Charleston is not
pcan as peacans.

Speaker 2 (46:07):
Okay, so you need to take that over fucking Ronnie.
I said the same thing. He said his English teacher
told him pcan and I was like, it's pecan, not whatever.
And with this time of year, see, and in this
time of year, it sounds like I just want to
put that on top of like a sweet potatoes or
like yams and just bacon and just let that thing
kind of like, oh, I want to fucking choose. Okay,

(46:28):
So let's say my apologies again about the restaurant. Let's
say someone's thrown a wedding, a party, or they want
to experience y'all's cuisine. What's the best ways for them
to either like look up possible like pop ups and
or hire you for catering or eventcers.

Speaker 5 (46:42):
Of course, we have a website. Website. Websites are stolen.

Speaker 4 (46:45):
Important, So Carolmas with an s dot com or catch
ass on social Instagram. We are Carolima sc on Instagram
and Caro Limas on Facebook.

Speaker 5 (46:58):
And we're on TikTok too. Carolina s C.

Speaker 1 (47:01):
I'm too old for TikTok. I don't get it. I don't.
I can't fucking get it.

Speaker 5 (47:05):
I know I can't either.

Speaker 4 (47:06):
Thank we have Samika's daughter and so she keeps us
on top of all the social idiots.

Speaker 3 (47:12):
Yeah she's.

Speaker 1 (47:15):
I mean, yeah, we need someone young. We have a
producer and they're like, we kind of hate y'all.

Speaker 3 (47:18):
I'm not going there.

Speaker 2 (47:20):
Okay, ladies, I can't tell you how much I appreciate
y'all taking the time to chat with me for the
high five. We've gone over our time when so I'll
do this real quick. It's just the last quick questions.
What's your favorite ale in the grocery store.

Speaker 1 (47:33):
For me?

Speaker 4 (47:35):
Oh, it would probably be the meat department for me.

Speaker 2 (47:38):
What's your favorite meat when you're grabbing just at a
local grocery, not like a butcher like h like be
short ribs, bone in right now with the like you
make a rag guy bone favorite seasonal produce going right now, Messima.

Speaker 5 (47:52):
Right now, sweet potato.

Speaker 1 (47:54):
It's that time of year. I fucking love it all right.

Speaker 2 (47:58):
I cannot thank y'all enough for taking the time. I
hope y'all have a wonderful food wine classic. If y'all
need any cannabis, y'all let me know. Shout out to
our sponsors, the podcast, Morocky Cannabis and Fat Graham's Vapes.

Speaker 1 (48:09):
Without y'all, I wouldn't have cotton mouth right now.

Speaker 2 (48:12):
And forgetting the fucking names of businesses until next episode.

Speaker 1 (48:15):
Y'all Stay high, stay hungry. Cheers