The early Springtime events calendar for Charlotte, North Carolina is alway packed full and this year is no exception. Despite the unusual dip in the weather this week – when early Spring felt more like early Winter – the Queen City’s Springtime list of activities are well underway!
In this post, I thought I’d share several food-centric events coming up in the next few weeks all of which I’m interested in attending and hope you will be, too! It all starts tomorrow night – make your reservations NOW using the links posted after each event and be sure to #TellThemHeidiSentYou !
Thursday March 15, 2018, 7-8:30pm – March Truffle Tasting at Potts Chocolate
It’s time for the monthly truffle release at Potts Chocolate located in Uptown Charlotte on Cedar Street. The release and seated tasting will be held inside the Foundry building and this month includes a collaborative effort with Muddy River Distillery!!
Delighted to say that I am the one who introduced local chocolatiers Blair and Margo Potts to local distillers Robbie and Caroline Delaney because after all what’s better than a little rum in your chocolate – or is that a little chocolate in your rum? Either way its going to be a delicious evening and to make it all even better Charlotte’s ( and my) own Tom Billotto is providing the musical entertainment on guitar and vocals! Still time to make your reservations, don’t miss it: Tickets, directions and more info available by clicking here.
ICYMI – Potts Chocolate was a part of my Eat Local, Drink Local line up this month, along with five other wonderful local products including Paige’s Designer Cookies (customed designed fanciful cookie collections and the featured photo at the top of this month’s Nibbles & Sips) get the details in the first Eat Local: Springtime edition blog post and look for an update with video about the post, recipes and more to come out tomorrow, March 15, 2018!
Muddy River was a part of the six sensational spirits in my first ever Drink Local Blog post at the end of last year, read all about Muddy River rum and what they do so well and then plan a visit to the distillery in Belmont or even better, just come to Thursday’s event at Potts Chocolate and taste for yourself!
Friday March 16 and Saturday March 17 – Tom Billotto performs two back to back nights at Global Restaurant in Pineville, NC
Two Back to Back performances at Global Restaurant on Main Street in Pineville for Tom Billotto this week! On Friday night, March 16, Tom will be joined by ukuleleist and guitarist Jimmy Bookout; and then on Saturday night March 17, in honor of St Patty’s Day, Tom performs solo but will add a few Irish standards into his playlist. Both nights entertainment is in the downstairs bar at Global from 7-10 pm. The food and drink is delicious, and Tom’s music and vocals will make your evening even better. For reservations at Global, call 704.835.1072 or reserve your table online
Meanwhile if you are planning any sort of event this season and in search of live music, look no further than Tom Billotto, performing as a solo act or in a duo, trio or quartet. Visit Tom’s website to see and listen to all he does and then reach out to book music for your next corporate event, private party, wedding, rehearsal dinner or spring or summer soiree. You can email Tom directly at TBillotto@carolina.rr.com.
Sunday March 18, 2018 – Catawba Brewing Company presents a Pop-Up Dinner featuring Chef Matthew Sganga of the Stone Table in Monroe, NC
Catawba Brewing Company continues its ongoing Culinary Series with Chef Matthew Sganga of Stone Table from Monroe, NC on March 18 at 6 pm.
The event will benefit The Arc of Union/Cabarrus. And my friends Meg and “Farmer Dan” Kypena from Middle Ground Farm will also collaborate with the event. (In case you didn’t know Meg and Dan’s daughter Jessie is a budding young pastry chef who works at Stone Table and her desserts are to die for… just sayin’…)
This Sunday night pop-up dinner will take place inside Catawba’s beautiful new private event center: The Barrel Room at Catawba Brewing in Charlotte (933 Louise Ave, Charlotte, NC 28204) , where guests will enjoy five fabulous pairings from local farmers and artisans chosen by Chef Matthew. An appetizer course will be served in an interactive cocktail party setting with a casual tour of the brew house. Following the tour, guests will be seated family style for four courses, each paired with a different craft beer. A portion of the proceeds from this event will benefit The Arc of Union/Cabarrus to provide programs and services in both Union County and Cabarrus County to individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. Click here to make your reservations now!
Saturday, March 24, 2018, 10am to 4 pm – For Your Health, spend some time at a great Gluten Free and Wellness Event at Lenny Boy Brewing Company. And I have 4 tickets to give away!
At this health-driven event, you’ll meet lots of vendors and producers I have written about on these digital pages or shared on TV or in my At Home with Heidi and On the Farm cooking classes!
You won’t want to miss this wonderful day-long event where you can sample, ask questions and also shop for all sorts of wonderful gluten free and allergen-free products.
Among the 50 plus vendors will be my friend Carolina Erickson with the oh so fabulous line of Doterra Essential Oils ( LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these!); Chocolatier Rom Sill who is doing big things with his killer Brasstown Chocolates from Winston-Salem (delicious bean to bar hand crafted chocolate featured in my first Eat Local/Drink Local round up of the year); my buds from Norm’s Farms with all of their delicious Elderberry products; my friend Beverly McLaughlin with her delicious line of vegan and vegetarian soups and entrees; and Mary Tantillo, who I first met at a tasting at Ingles in Black Mountain, NC, with her terrific Gluten free sweets that I hope to be writing about soon – the company is called Dolci de Maria and these are delicious gluten free brownies and bars. Also in the mix several Charlotte restaurants who offer gluten free menu options, of course Lenny Boy will be sampling their locally brewed Kombucha as well. Its going to be a fun, informative and delicious day. You can read more about it all here…
Tickets are $10 and you may purchase them here; but first you might want to enter to win the 4 tickets I have to give away!!
All you need to do to enter is follow my blog by entering your email address to follow HeidiBillottoFood.com where prompted ( its in the upper right hand corner of my home page where the column starts with the words “Don’t Miss A Single Post”) hit the pink button that says “FOLLOW” and then email me at Heidi@HeidiCooks.com to say you’d like to win two tickets. I have four and will be giving away two sets of two…I’ll hold the random drawing on March 19 and will email you back to say you won if I draw your name and will announce the winners on my social media feeds ( so you might want to follow me there, too…. that’s Heidi Billotto Cooks on Facebook; @heidibillotto on Instagram and @HeidiCooks on Twitter.
March 25, 2018, 8am – 5 pm – Piedmont Culinary Guild Annual Food and Beverage Symposium
The 2018 PCG Symposium is an annual event hosted by the Piedmont Culinary Guild – a group of regional chefs, farmers and culinarians working side by side to network, share strengths and build our region’s local food economy.
Tickets to this chef and farmer-driven day long symposium, which takes place in Charlotte, NC at Johnson & Wales, are available to the public and if you have an interest, consider this day of informative workshops and seminars to be well worth your time – plus you’ll get to hobnob and rub elbows with many of Charlotte’s fine chefs and farmers!
This year’s collection of classes runs the gamut from hog butchering to creating vegan dishes, from rediscovering lost flavors to creating bold, new menus; and also offers a series of informative discussions and roundtables centered around growing or starting a food-centric business and securing investors to farming diversification.
Keynote speaker at the Symposium this year will be Glenn Roberts, founder of Anson Mills. For tickets and more info visit the PCG website.
March 14 – March 25, 2018 Hendersonville Restaurant Week in Hendersonville, NC
And, if all of that is just over one week’s time wasn’t enough, during the same 10-day time frame the first ever Hendersonville Restaurant Week will be taking place in Hendersonville, NC. If you are in the mood for a quick midweek trip up the mountain or perhaps a lingering 3 day weekend getaway – this is a great excuse to go.
The town of Hendersonville and the surrounding areas of Mills River and Flat Rock are home to some pretty wonderful dining options. I should know, I visited the area a couple of weeks ago and tasted my way through nearly every participating restaurant!
Not only will you find wonderful restaurants, but fabulous accommodations as well – I stayed at a beautiful getaway – the Bed & Breakfast on Tiffany Hill in Mills River and I am here to tell you that Hendersonville Restaurant Week or no, this gorgeous B&B, each room designed from the pages of Southern Living Magazine, was a wonderful respite for a bit of much needed R&R. Can’t wait to write more about it!!
You’ll find good eats galore in among the participating HRW restaurants – the whole list is up at the HRW website and then stay tuned for a few of my personal recommendations in a blog post up on these pages before the end of this week.