If you need a delicious reason to make a quick trip to Wilmington, I can give you 26 of them. From A to Z. My friend Chef Dean Neff ( Of Seabird Restaurant and Zora’s Seafood Market) has gathered a pretty remarkable group of chefs, fishers, oyster farmers, foragers, storytellers and seafood lovers for the second annual Out to Sea NC Festival, happening November 8-10, 2026 in Wilmington, NC.
When I started looking at the lineup, I realized I know so many of the people involved that this feels a little like a family reunion, only with oysters, caviar, North Carolina seafood and some very talented chefs doing the cooking.
Out To Sea NC Festival: What, Where and Why
What began in 2025 as the NC Oyster & Seafood Celebration has grown into a three-day festival celebrating North Carolina’s coastal foodways and the people behind them. This year there are dinners, classes, films, conversations, lots of local seafood and plenty of opportunities to learn where that seafood comes from and why supporting the people who harvest it matters.
I know November is a busy month for us all, and honestly I am late to the game getting all of these details. But if you have time and can make it to Wilmington in the next couple of days, The Out To Sea NC Festival is an event you don’t want to miss.
Plan to come to attend just one event or come to them all. If you are looking for a great pre-holiday getaway, take advantage here as the fall/winter shoulder season in North Carolina is a great time to spend at the coast. Pick one event, come for the day, make a Wilmington overnight of it, or clear your calendar and do the whole delicious thing.
So, with tickets still available, let’s start at the very beginning.
A is for Adé
Chef Adé Carenna of iLéWA Foods is part of Tuesday night’s collaborative chef dinner at Seabird. I’ve known Adé through the NCRLA Chef Showdown, and she’s one of several chefs on this lineup whose food I already know and love.
Tuesday’s dinner brings together seven chefs, each creating a course highlighting a North Carolina ingredient. More on that as we make our way through the alphabet.
B is for Brooklyn Arts Center
This is where Out to Sea NC Fest begins Sunday afternoon at 3:30 with “Saltwater Stories.”
The dinner centers on African American foodways along the North Carolina coast and the history of the Nixon family, who opened the first oyster shucking plant in New Hanover County. Chef Keith Rhodes of Voyce Bistro will cook, with John Mallette of Southern Breeze Seafood . Together they make a dynamic Duo you do not want to miss.
$75 per person. Get Tickets Here.
C is for Caviar
North Carolina Caviar, from Marshallberg Farm in Smyrna, NC, Yes Please.
Monday morning’s Seafood Class and Tasting includes a caviar class with Lianne Won-Reburn of Marshallberg Caviar Farm.
Plus, Lin Peterson and Ryan Speckman of Locals Seafood will talk about the seasonality and sustainability of finfish, while Joe Romano of Seaview Crab Co. takes on the state of North Carolina’s shrimp industry. This is important info for us all.
The class runs Monday from 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at Seabird. Tickets are $60 and include light snacks and drinks. Get Tickets here.
D is for Dean
Chef Dean Neff is the heart behind Out to Sea NC Festival.
Dean and his wife, Lydia Clopton, opened Seabird in 2021, and Dean has become one of North Carolina’s most vocal champions of sustainable seafood and the people who bring it from our coast to our tables.
Dean is also a James Beard Foundation Outstanding Chef nominee and finalist and a recent StAR award winner at the NCRLA Stars of the Industry awards. All of that and still one of the things I appreciate most about Dean is the way he continually turns the spotlight toward the fishers, farmers, foragers and producers behind the ingredients he serves. That’s really what this festival is all about.
E is for Education
Yes, we’re coming to Wilmington to eat. But along the way we’re going to learn something, too.
Out to Sea NC isn’t simply a series of chef dinners. The long weekend digs into seafood seasonality, sustainability, shrimp, oysters, caviar, coastal history and the people whose livelihoods are tied to North Carolina waters.
You will leave knowing more about what to look for and why to shop locally the next time you’re buying seafood. I love that.
F is for Fisher People
The chefs may get lots of attention, but look at this lineup of seafood pros: Lin Peterson and Ryan Speckman of Locals Seafood, Ana Shellem of Shellem Seafood, Conor MacNair of N. Sea Oyster Co., Lianne Won-Reburn of Marshallberg Caviar, Joe Romano of Seaview Crab Co. and John Mallette of Southern Breeze Seafood.
These are the people who make a seafood festival a North Carolina seafood festival.
G is for Guest Chefs
And there are a lot of them.
Catch them all at the Nov 10 Tuesday Night Collaborative Chef Dinner at Seabird | Seven Chefs offer one course each highlighting a NC ingredient. The dinner includes Devotion Cider pairings with special guest Diane Flynt, founder of Foggy Ridge Cider and author of Wild, Tamed, Lost, Revived: The Surprising Story of Apples in the South.
The line up of Chefs in the room is pretty spectacular. Look for Nicole Cabrera Mills of Pêche in New Orleans, Ricky Moore of Saltbox Seafood Joint in Durham, Vivian Howard and Charlotte Coman of Theodosia in Outer Banks and Chef and The Farmer in Kinston, Adé Carenna of iLéWA Foods, Keith Rhodes of Voyce Bistro in Wilmington, Carson Jewell of Manna in Wilmington, and pastry chef Leticia Torres-Rojas of Seabird. Wow!
Come hungry. Get your tickets here.
H is for History
Food always tastes better when you know the story behind it.
Sunday’s Saltwater Stories goes beyond what’s on the plate to explore the African American foodways that helped shape coastal North Carolina, including the history of the Nixon family and New Hanover County’s first oyster shucking plant.
It’s food history told at the table, which seems like exactly where we ought to be telling it.
I is for Inside the Industry
One of the things I love about Out to Sea NC Festival is that you get to hear from the people who really know North Carolina seafood, because they are the people in the industry, out there harvesting, raising, selling and cooking it every day.
J is for John Mallette
John Mallette of Southern Breeze Seafood will be part of Sunday’s Saltwater Stories event.
John is another familiar face for me. He joined us on the Got To Be NC Cooking Stage at the NC State Fair this year, and seafood from Southern Breeze showed up in several of our cooking demos.
I love when my food worlds collide.
K is for Keith Rhodes
Wilmington’s own Chef Keith Rhodes of Voyce Bistro anchors Sunday’s Saltwater Stories dinner and returns as one of the chefs cooking Tuesday night.
Keith is a two-time James Beard nominee and a longtime voice in Wilmington’s food community. Having him help tell the story of African American coastal foodways makes Sunday’s event particularly special. In between his Out To Sea NC events, you’ll find Keith and Angela and their lovely family at Voyce in Wilmington. Make plans to go eat with them at Voyce soon – you’re going to love it!
L is for Locals Seafood
Lin Peterson and Ryan Speckman of Locals Seafood lead Monday’s conversation on finfish, specifically what seasonality and sustainability really mean.
If you want to be a smarter local seafood shopper, this is the sort of conversation worth hearing.
M is for Marsh to Table
On Monday night Nov 9, 2026, the festival moves from the classroom to the movies. The evening begins with a screening of ShellBound: An Anthology of Southern Oyster Culture. This is a documentary with a focus on oysters in the American South, from the farmers who cultivate them to the chefs who bring them to the table.
A screening of From Marsh to Table, follows, originally produced for the Emmy Award-winning series My Home, NC, follows wild seafood harvester Ana Shellem into North Carolina’s coastal marshes with James Beard Award-winning Chef Ricky Moore. Together they make one dynamic duo of NC Seafood. This is my kind of double feature. Tickets Available Here.
N is for North Carolina Seafood and NC Catch
This is really the reason for all of it.
Wild catch. Farmed oysters. Shrimp. Finfish. Shellfish. Caviar.
More importantly, the Out to Sea NC festival is doing what I always try to do in my writing and appearances. It connects all of those ingredients to actual people.
When we talk about eating local seafood, knowing who caught it, grew it, harvested it or brought it to market is a pretty important part of the conversation. NC Catch is another state wide organization that helps to make that happen and Dean Neff is an long time NC Catch Ambassador.
O is for Oysters
If you’ve been playing along then you already knew that “O” had to be oysters. Locally harvested North Carolina Oysters. The best.
Monday night’s Saltwater Cinema begins at 5:30 p.m. at historic Thalian Hall with a reception featuring freshly shucked oysters from six Southern oyster farmers. Wine and beer are included. Then the crowd will settle in for the films.
Tickets are $60, with proceeds benefiting Cape Fear River Watch and Oyster South. Get Your Ticket Here
P is for Pêche
Chef Nicole Cabrera Mills comes to Wilmington from Pêche Seafood Grill in New Orleans to join Tuesday night’s dinner.
One of the things I love about this lineup is the mix. North Carolina chefs and seafood pros are at the center, but bringing another coastal perspective to the table makes the conversation that much more interesting. I don’t know Nicole and I’ve never been to Pêche, but any friend of Dean’s is reason enough to make plans soon.
Q is for Questions
We’ve all asked them. Where does my seafood come from? What’s in season?Is it sustainable? What does sustainable even mean? What’s happening with North Carolina shrimp? Who grows caviar in North Carolina?
Those are exactly the kinds of questions Monday’s classes and conversations are designed to answer. If you’ve ever wanted to know more about the seafood you’re buying and eating, here’s your chance to ask the people who actually know.
R is for Ricky Moore
Chef Ricky Moore of Saltbox Seafood Joint is another familiar face and another chef I’m always happy to see on a culinary event lineup. I can’t even tell you where or when this photo was taken but I’m always happy to share time and space with Chef Ricky Moore.
Ricky is part of Monday night’s film and panel discussion and then moves from the screen back to the stove for Tuesday night’s collaborative dinner.
If you’ve followed Ricky’s work, you know his connection to North Carolina seafood runs deep. He won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southeast in 2022, and Saltbox has helped put North Carolina seafood in a national spotlight.
S is for Seabird
Of course.
Dean and Lydia’s downtown Wilmington restaurant is home base for much of Out to Sea NC.
Seabird’s menu has always been rooted in what’s available from local fishers, farmers and foragers, so a festival built around North Carolina coastal foodways feels less like something added onto the restaurant and more like a natural extension of what Dean and his team do every day.
T is for Thalian Hall
Could there be a better place for Saltwater Cinema?
Monday’s 5:30 p.m. event at historic Thalian Hall begins with that oyster reception, followed by a 6:30 p.m. double feature.
The films include ShellBound: An Anthology of Southern Oyster Culture, produced by The Local Palate and BLK ELK, and From Marsh to Table.
Afterward, Erin Byers Murray of The Local Palate moderates a conversation with Dean Neff, Conor MacNair, Ana Shellem, Ricky Moore and filmmaker Heather Burgiss.
Dinner and a movie has taken a decidedly delicious turn.
U is for Under-the-Surface Stories
Here’s what I think makes the Out to Sea NC Festival different.
This isn’t just about putting a beautiful seafood dish on the table. It’s about looking underneath it.
Who harvested it? Where did it come from? What traditions surround it? How is the industry changing? And what do we need to know if we want North Carolina seafood to remain part of our tables for generations to come?
Those are stories worth telling.
V is for Vivian
Chef Vivian Howard. Vivian joins Tuesday’s collaborative dinner along with Chef Charlotte Coman. The two are behind Theodosia, Vivian’s new Outer Banks restaurant. Vivian, of course, is also the chef and storyteller many of us first came to know through her first resaurant, Chef & the Farmer in Kinston NC and the well-know PBS series, “A Chef’s Life.”
W is for Wilmington NC
Now let’s turn this festival into a getaway.
If you’re coming from Charlotte, Raleigh or anywhere else, don’t just drive in, eat and drive home. Stay awhile.
Two of my favorite Wilmington stays are The Verandas, a beautiful historic bed and breakfast on Nun Street, and Front Street Inn, a quirky downtown boutique hotel that sits above a great little bar and coffee shop called the Concorde. I’ve stayed at both venues during Wilmington trips for the NCRLA Chef Showdown and Wilmington’s Feast events and can highly recommend and would happily go back to either.
Make the Out to Sea NC Festival your reason to plan a Wilmington overnight, or two. Read more about my Wilmington adventures here.
X is for the eXperience
Yes, I am absolutely taking a little alphabetical liberty here. But that’s the point. You can buy a ticket to a dinner. Or a class. Or a movie. It’s all about the experience. Who you’ll get to meet and what you’ll get to eat.
What Dean and company have put together is something big: a chance to experience North Carolina seafood through the people, places, history and traditions behind it. Don’t Miss it.
Y is for Yes, You Can Pick Just One
You do not have to attend everything. Come Sunday for Saltwater Stories. Take Monday morning’s seafood class. Do oysters and a movie Monday night; or treat yourself to the seven-chef dinner Tuesday.
Or, take a break before all of the holiday hubbub and make a mini Wilmington NC vacation out of the whole thing.
Z is for Zora’s Market & Kitchen
We made it all the way to Z, and Dean made this one easy for me.
Zora’s Market & Kitchen is Wilmington’s oldest seafood market, and Dean took stewardship of it in 2024.
For me, it’s another piece of the same story. Restaurants like Seabird are one part of supporting local seafood. Markets where home cooks can buy it are another.
And if you are making a Wilmington weekend or three day getaway out of Out to Sea NC Festival, put Zora’s on the list. And bring a cooler. You are going to want to take NC Seafood back home to enjoy.
Choose your own Out to Sea NC Festival Adventure
Here’s a quick run down of events, so you can make plans. All of the details and links for tickets on on the Seabird website here.
Sunday, November 8 at 3:30 p.m.
Saltwater Stories at Brooklyn Arts Center
Dinner with Chef Keith Rhodes, coastal history and a cooking demonstration with John Mallette.
Tickets: $75
Monday, November 9 from 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
Seafood Class & Tasting at Seabird
Caviar, finfish seasonality and sustainability, and the state of the North Carolina shrimp industry. Light snacks and drinks included.
Tickets: $60
Monday, November 9 at 5:30 p.m.
Saltwater Cinema: Stories from the Southern Coast at Thalian Hall
Oyster reception, wine and beer, two films and a post-screening conversation.
Tickets: $60
Tuesday, November 10 at 6 p.m.
Collaborative Chef Dinner at Seabird
Seven chefs, seven courses highlighting North Carolina ingredients, plus Devotion Cider pairings with special guest Diane Flynt, founder of Foggy Ridge Cider and author of Wild, Tamed, Lost, Revived: The Surprising Story of Apples in the South.
Tickets: $250, including tax and gratuity
So there you have it. Twenty-six reasons, from Adé to Zora’s.
Choose one event or choose them all. Either way, Out to Sea NC Festival is a pretty delicious excuse to head to Wilmington and spend some time getting to know the chefs, fishers, farmers, foragers and storytellers who help put North Carolina seafood on our tables.
Don’t forget to Tell Them Heidi Sent You.