Vince Giancarlo> Summer Soiree is a really fun experiment.

♪ Jon Rosenburg> We have three executive chefs working with a team that they wouldn't always work with.

Vince> Oh, that's a, that's a challenge.

Jeff Tonidandel> We broke down barriers between restaurants.

Sam Sheehan> This is my first time running a service in that kitchen.

Vince> This thing's awesome.

Jon> It drives people outside of their comfort.

Jamie Brown> The whole service is in high action.

It is like a dance.

Colleen Hughes> This is going to be a real roll of the dice.

Vince> This industry is the epitome of organized chaos.

Customer> Do you have any idea what's happening?

Jamie> Oh, boy.

This was, we ran into a bit of a snafu.

Vince> The soiree was certainly that in a nutshell.

Hendrix Giancarlo> That is good!

(music fades) >> Major funding for Fork and Hammer is provided by the ETV Endowment of South Carolina, the proud partner of South Carolina ETV and South Carolina Public Radio.

With the generosity of individuals, corporations and foundations, the ETV Endowment of South Carolina is committed to sharing entertaining and uplifting stories and series like Fork and Hammer .

>> This series is made possible by Trust20.

Trust20 is a nationally accredited food safety training provider offering online training, certifications, and resources for all areas of the food service industry Learn more at Trust20.co.

>> Charlotte, from the refined to the unexpected, every bite, a memory in the making.

There's much more at Charlottesgotalot.com >> Fork and Hammer is brought to you by Biltmore Estate Winery .

(slow melodic music) ♪ Jamie> Summer Soiree is a great way to enjoy the summer harvest of the Carolinas, and create a meal that's one of a kind, here in our building at Supperland .

♪ I don't know, what do you say?

Jeff> I thought that was great.

I don't know.

Jamie> Say something better.

♪ >> Summer Soiree is, a really fun, experiment.

Jamie> We do events throughout the year, but our summer time is a little bit lagging.

Our sales tend to slump.

Jeff> Everyone's in Charleston.

Jamie> Everyone goes to the beach.

Vince> So the experiment part of the soiree was like, let's work with these chefs that you haven't worked with for a second and launch this dinner into the stratosphere.

♪ >> I do enjoy doing specialty events, especially with other chefs.

We get to come in.

We get to operate as like a big team.

Jon> We have three executive chefs and our executive pastry chef, working with the team that they wouldn't always work with.

Vince> Ooh, that's a, that's a challenge.

Jeff> We kind of broke down barriers between restaurants and everybody worked together.

Sam Shaheen>It was my first time running a service in that kitchen, just spatial awareness, understanding where you're physically standing.

Jon> It drives people outside of their comfort.

At Haberdish , we're focused on fried chicken and cocktails.

At Ever Andalo , we're focused on Italian food.

At Supperland we're focused on church potluck steakhouse influence.

And this is really focused on summer, on vegetables that we can get in North Carolina within 100 miles of our restaurant.

Jamie> A lot of times, our menus, you know, they stay the same from day after day.

And so this opportunity to be able to be creative and work with local produce is just really fun.

Jon> We are selling tickets.

I think as of today, there's eight tickets left, so not that many.

They're selling really well.

Jeff> Summer Soiree's event would be a success if we sold out and if the chefs got together executed really, really well.

Jamie> I think it's a success if we sell out and if the chefs have an opportunity to be creative.

(melodic music) Vince> What I really, really enjoy about food and cookery is working with live fire.

♪ Jeff> The Summer Soiree is an awesome time to bring everybody over to Supperland and let them have it as their playground.

So Vince gets to come here and work on the fire grill, 14 feet of fire.

I mean that sounds pretty fun to me.

(tool whirring) Vince> This thing is awesome.

(laughs) Fire is nature.

You can't control it.

And I think that's what really drew me to it the most, is that you have to learn how to dance with it.

♪ The Soiree was certainly that in a nutshell.

Everything I want to do, I want to do it with this hearth I want to, I want to use this fire.

♪ >> Putting other creatives in the room together can only breed healthy competition.

♪ Competition is good.

It sparks creativity.

That was the whole idea of Summer Soiree.

♪ Sam Sheehan> There's definitely a healthy amount of competition, wanting to present a dish that other people like, especially people who are professionals in this industry.

It's absolutely the name of the game.

♪ Jeff> This smells so good.

They're going to love this.

This is awesome.

>> Shhh!

Jeff> A lot of times you're in a tasting and they're bringing out wonderful food.

I'm always thinking holistically, where is this going to get inserted?

What's following which dish?

And are we developing that menu that we want to develop.

And when I close my eyes, is this the experience that we want to have?

Is this fun?

Are we having a good time?

Sam> This is a pork milanese.

It's very, very bright.

It's got a lot of lemon zest in it.

Super delicious.

We've topped that with a local, summer salad.

It's just local peaches, sliced and just a citronette.

Michael Klinger> I have always loved that type of food.

I think it's the perfect way to cook pork, pounded thin and breaded.

It's a great vehicle for butter and lemon and all the other things that I like with it.

♪ ♪ Sam> What?

This is like a double serving or how are we...?

Jamie> No, you said it's four ounces.

Sam> Yeah, that's only four ounces.

It's just been pounded really thin and it spreads out a lot.

Jamie> The greens look a little bit more tired.

And, and so it might be just from when you plated it.

To make them feel fresh and alive, is it with the chop or do the, do the peaches need to be smaller?

How do we make it look lighter as opposed to wilty?

Or are you intending for them to be wiltier?

Sam> I was a little bit rough, whenever, you know, we're getting, getting these greens together and putting them together.

It also will start to wilt as it sits on top of the milanese.

Chris Rogienski> The peaches are so perfect.

Sam> I love them.

Right!

They're awesome.

Chris> I mean, I think the dish was great.

I could use a pinch of salt, personally.

<Sam> Yeah.

Chris> I think it was just a touch under seasoned.

But I really liked the whole dish.

Thought it came together well.

(somber music) Vince> I grew up in the Philadelphia area.

♪ The times when my dad and I cooked in the kitchen together were always like the build up to something, something I felt was special.

I was 12 years old when my father passed.

12.

♪ (music fades) (lively music) Now this part, you know how to do, right?

So you're going to help me do this part?

Hendrix> Yeah.

Vince> Alrighty.

♪ ♪ A little harder, you got to tap it a little harder.

Ready?

One.

Two.

Three.

There you go.

You got it?

Oh, nice.

Shell in here.

Now, we got to check for some shells.

We got any shells in there?

♪ I started as a busboy.

I think it was a Sunday brunch shift.

And the griddle cook called out.

Hey, we, we need a flat top cook.

So I was like, yeah, sure.

You know, I can do eggs and pancakes.

(sizzling) Also, that guy washed all the dishes.

Griddle flat top in front of me, dish pit behind me.

So I'm like flipping pancakes and doing eggs and stuff and then turn around, like spraying dishes down, sending them through the dish machine.

At the end of the shift, I was like, man, that was wicked fun.

♪ Ready.

Ready.

Ready?

Hendrix> Yeah.

Yeaaaaah!

(Vince laughs) Vince> One.

Two.

Three.

Woo!

Hendrix> Yeah.

Vince> Look at that.

Does that smell good?

Do you smell the eggs?

Mmmm.

Hendrix> That is good!

Vince> All right.

Now we're going to plate up our breakfast.

Vince> Cool?

Hendrix> Yes.

<Vince> My job, ends up taking me away a lot.

So any time for us to kind of connect on a different level and learn a little bit about each other.

Right?

Hendrix> Yeah.

Vince> And be best buds.

Hendrix> Yeah.

Vince> Are we best buds?

Hendrix> Yeah.

Vince> Yeah, we are.

Mommy, too, right?

Hendrix> Yeah.

Vince> You're a good dude.

♪ School was what brought me to Charlotte.

♪ I think that I got what any cook gets out of culinary school, from Johnson and Wales, and that is the fundamentals.

I got this balance of, like, the hard knocks and the buttoned up educational piece that I felt was a perfect mix for me.

♪ So, this is our, Collard Wrapped Halibut.

On the side we have a street corn salad, local corn.

Jon> What's the sweetness in the collard coming from?

Vince> The halibut was brined, in sweet tea with lemon.

Jon> Awesome.

You're looking for salt.

You're looking for acid.

You're looking for a really a balance in that dish.

Are the flavors too similar, so the guests aren't going to be intrigued, from one dish to another?

Vince> So, yes, we're marrying Japanese, Mexican and southern cuisine in this dish.

Jamie> Beautiful.

Jeff> It looks great.

Michael Klinger> What's the spice in the elote the thing before cotija?

Vince> Tajín.

Michael> Tajín.

Vince> “Tah-Jeen” or “Tajín”.

Michael> I've seen different spellings.

Yeah, yeah.

I really love when we get to do things side by side.

Like what Chef Vince did, with his halibut dish, a little, little tweak here, a little tweak there.

But then me specifically, I'm tasting to see, what wines I think are going to pair well with them.

I often think of collards, as more of a, you know, winter green, but is there a, summer crop?

And is the flavor different at all?

Vince> Well, so the thing about North Carolina is that collards are a year round crop.

It's like a sweet potato.

you know what I mean?

Like, they never go away.

Sam> I'm right there with you.

I mean, collard greens in North Carolina are absolutely available year round.

Vince> We're trying to emphasize the bounty of summer in North Carolina.

Well, collards are part of the bounty of summer because we're in North Carolina.

So I kind of feel like it's almost a juxtaposition that works in our favor, you know what I mean?

♪ Jamie> In the Summer Soiree tastings, what I'm looking for is just how the dish is plated.

I just want to make sure that it looks like a celebratory dish.

It's something that somebody is going to be able to enjoy with their eyes before they enjoy it with their mouth.

So my two big things are, plating wise and then eatability.

With the collards, there's a lot of cutting, especially with it not being stewed down.

So thinking through how we make it eatable, and then plating wise I know it won't be on these.

Are they going to be on a flat white?

Vince> So it's going to be on like a very shallow bowl kind of plate.

Jamie> Okay.

Vince> So it won't have this giant lip which I think will kind of play into being able to eat.

Jamie> Yeah, the colors are very vibrant too, which is nice with the bright green and the bright yellow.

So.

Vince> Yeah.

<Jamie>I feel like it's really beautiful.

Michael> There were things in my head that I thought would fit with halibut, but having that sweet tea brine and the furikake flavors and that little bit of spice.

I think there's a flavor profile where I might actually play with a different type of wine than I was thinking before I got to taste it.

♪ Chris> Even if you pick up one small little tip or trick or technique off one of the other chefs, it's usually valuable.

Jamie> Oh, Jeff.

Look!

The colors.

It's like eating the rainbow.

Jeff> Oh, I love it.

This is amazing.

Jamie> Alright Chris what's in your dish?

Chris> All right, so we have a duck fat roasted corn and mushrooms, and then the beef cheek is slow braised.

And then I have pickled veg on top of there.

So we have pickled cabbage, carrot, celery, onion and some mustard seed, as well.

I garnished this thing over the top just because it was brown on, brown on, brown.

Jeff> Because Jamie Brown's at the tasting?

(Jamie laughs) Jamie> Jamie Brown does not like brown.

Chris> Jamie Brown does not like brown.

(Jamie laughs) Chris> Yeah I mean every single thing on this plate is hyper local.

Jon> That looks awesome.

Vince> Yeah.

Michael> It looks great.

Jamie> Oh.

Jon> Go ahead.

Jeff> Oh my goodness.

♪ ♪ Savannah Foltz> We started kind of with like the base inspiration of smores.

And then we were like, okay.

so, figs, North Carolina.

And figs pair super well with chocolate and caramel and everything else that we're going with here.

Vince> What's the ice cream?

Savannah> It's burnt ember ice cream.

So I take charred logs off the grill and I soak them in milk overnight.

Sam> Holy (beep).

(laughing) Savannah> We take logs right out of the fire.

I usually like it when they're still flaming, because it's a little bit more fun.

And I submerge them in milk, and I let them sit there for about 12 to 18 hours before we pull them out and strain it super, super good.

And then we spin that ice cream and it gives you this like subtly smoky, savory vanilla ice cream.

Vince> This fricken log ice cream is blowing my mind.

Savannah> Oh, I love the log ice cream.

Vince> It's literally blowing my mind.

Jeff> Trying to get more of the sourdough flavor from it.

Savannah> As we gear up for the Summer Soiree, I can definitely hold it for a little bit longer if you want that more like pungent, sour, savory flavor in the brownie.

Jeff> The ice cream just brings you back to the campfire, though.

Sam> It was just unlike anything that I had ever tried, so sweet and so smoky.

Jamie> We're so lucky to have somebody who has such a positive spirit.

Not every chef in the kitchen is like that, but she is just sunshine.

Any time we do a tasting with her, it's successful because she just takes a lot of thought and energy towards each dish that she does, and she always presents the best that she's got.

♪ Savannah> I am from Hagerstown, Maryland, which is a small town in western Maryland, in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.

Jamie> She gets a lot of inspiration from her childhood and from her grandmother.

Savannah> I spent a lot of time as a kid, in my mamaw's kitchen.

♪ She would cook dinner every Wednesday night, and so I would be right there with her.

♪ I have since acquired all of her recipes, and I find that when I get stuck, I just pull a card out of there and I think, okay, well, what would mamaw make for dinner tonight?

♪ Let's see what I can actually find in here right now.

♪ Swirled pumpkin cream cheese tart.

Ahead of the times, Mamaw.

♪ Meltaways.

♪ I was reading something about strawberries and tomatoes on a molecular level being super similar, and you can interchange them which is why, strawberries work so well with basil.

Strawberry jelly, three and a half cups tomato juice, two tablespoons lemon juice, four cups of sugar.

And that's it.

That's, that's her strawberry jelly.

♪ And it's funny knowing that science and then going through these recipes and seeing, oh, my mamaw was doing that.

She just didn't know why it worked.

She just knew it did.

And then she told people it was strawberry jelly, They wouldn't know the difference.

♪ I like to think that she's proud of me.

♪ (melodic music) ♪ ♪ ♪ Jeff> I love events like the Summer Soiree, because there's just so much joy in knowing that we've worked really, really hard.

And we had so many tastings.

We put so much thought into it, and now we get the chance to execute.

♪ ♪ ♪ Jamie> It's been incredible to watch the day unfold, because we have this all star list of chefs that are all down in the kitchen, working together, collaborating.

♪ ♪ (music fades) Jon> At 5:45, we're going to have everybody ready in position outside at the cocktail patio and the cocktail bar.

Colleen will give you a heads up quickly on what that cocktail is.

>> So our first cocktail is a little different.

It's a savory tomato cocktail.

It's pink, but it is a savory drink.

This is tomato infused vodka with a bunch of like, different sort of savory spices in it, red onion, garlic, some red pepper flakes, black pepper.

It also has fresh basil infused, and that's infused into the vodka.

Normally when we would do these things, we'd usually do a punch, but with everything being summer, it's in my mind, tomato is really the way to go.

So think of it, more like a martini.

When I first presented Jeff with the idea of doing our opening cocktail as something savory, I was like, this is going to be a real roll of the dice.

If somebody is a sugary drink person, this might not be their favorite drink.

Just so you know.

Cocchi extra dry vermouth.

And then this is our acid adjusted and clarified tomato water.

I asked if he wanted me to do a second drink that was a little bit more of like a people pleaser.

And Jeff's response was like, "No, this is perfect.

"If they don't get it, that's on them.

"They can have wine.

I don't usually go this far kind of into the avant garde.

This is really a speakeasy level cocktail, but I thought since the chefs were all going to show off, maybe we should too.

♪ (jazz music) Jamie> The first guests are just beginning to arrive.

Jeff> We tried to be thoughtful.

We thought through a lot of things, but you never know how it ends up.

So.

♪ ♪ Guest #1> I am having a tomato martini.

Guest #2> And we were just talking about what this is.

It smells wonderful.

It smells like fresh tomato.

Guest #1> It's delicious.

I was hesitant at first, but it's really kind of effervescent, refreshing and has a little bit of a kick to it.

Guest #3> It's a lot of interesting flavors put together, but it's very tasty, it's different.

Guest #1> I cannot wait to see what the chefs have prepared.

Just taking us through a multi-course journey.

I just hope my appetite holds out, and allows me to enjoy everything.

(music fades) Jamie> Oh boy.

This was... We ran into a bit of a snafu with the seating chart.

Guest #4> Do you have any idea what's happening?

Michael> Are you waiting to be sat?

Guest #4> Our table has people at it.

Our table is full.

Jamie> So, we had two tables that were improperly sat.

Michael> I think Jon's moved four other people over to open up a six top for you.

Jeff> Moved some tables in order to accommodate some guests, and then it ended up kind of biting us in the tush.

Jamie> Causing some problems.

Jeff> Yes.

<Jamie> It sure did.

Jeff> So anyways, but we figured it out and, got it, got to work out.

Server> So we have seats for you now.

Michael> Thank you.

Thank you for your patience.

Server> Sorry about that.

Guest #4> Thank you.

Michael> I'm going to come over and make sure there's bubbles already poured for you.

Jamie> When Michael is going around the dining room, it is like a dance.

The whole service is in high action.

There are plates being served and food coming off the fire.

And Michael is going from table to table, making sure that every single person is overjoyed with the wine that they've selected for dinner.

Michael> So we're going to the first white wine they call this one funky and the fearless.

It's made in California, but inspired by the Mediterranean.

There's some seaweed, some furikake notes in the halibut, with the burrata, and the tomatoes and the country ham.

As well as the richness of the corn.

Some mozzarella, country ham instead of prosciutto.

Some tomatoes, I was thinking southern Italy.

I think it's going to be an excellent pairing.

It should be an excellent pairing.

And then after this we'll have a few reds.

We're doing one wine with each course, pouring it for people and seeing their eyes light up.

It's really something special for the guests and they leave so happy.

You know, we've done our job in hospitality then.

(slow jazz music) Jamie> He just loves to look around the dining room and see wine glass, after wine glass, after wine glass sprinkled throughout the entire room.

♪ Jeff> Let's raise a glass to all the farmers that have grown this food for us.

All of our kitchen staff, all of our chefs that have put it all together.

So here's to our very first Summer Soiree.

Let's celebrate together.

Thank you all.

(applause and cheers) Jamie> I think sometimes when you do these tastings, you want things to come out perfectly the night of, but it's very difficult to make that happen, because you've got 90 dishes to get out at once.

You've got different hands making the dishes.

They got to work completely as a team.

After we got through that initial seating issue at the beginning, we were about five minutes behind getting started, but the courses came out quickly and on time and everybody caught up and got everything back on pace.

(melodic music) ♪ ♪ Guest #5> The pork is really crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside.

But then they're able to layer flavors in.

So this one had like a slight pepper note from arugula.

And then the peaches had nice bright acidity.

Guest #6> The peaches probably had to be my favorite.

♪ Jamie> Everybody seemed super happy being, you know, even amongst strangers at tables and just having a lot of conversation, having a great time.

Jeff> We're sitting with another couple that we've never met before.

So we're having fun.

Jamie> We put 2 or 3 cards on each table so that these guests, who might not know each other at these community tables, they could have conversation, just to get started.

♪ Guest #7> A special moment like this, a special night, a special dinner like, I'll for sure take pictures.

♪ Jamie> The energy of the room when this whole place is filled with a group of people all imbibing and enjoying food and, and everything kind of comes together.

It is just so much fun to be in this dining room.

♪ Guest #8> Our dinner tonight has been fabulous.

We have enjoyed every entree that we've had.

My favorite was probably, the halibut wrapped in the collard greens.

Guest #7> The collard wrapped halibut with the street corn salad.

You've had street corn, but you really haven't had it like this because there's a lot of really unique flavors going on in there.

Guest #8> And we really enjoyed the new spin on it.

Guest #7> Sour dough brownie.

Amazing off the bat, but the ember ice cream?

There's not really much, I mean, there's really not much I can say about it other than you wish you would have had that.

♪ Jamie> I think a lot of our chefs love this kitchen because it's two stories and the top story is a show kitchen.

So you're kind of a part of the environment.

And a lot of times chefs get kind of sequestered off into the kitchen.

But not here.

Here, for the Summer Soiree, they get to be on the stage.

They are the centerpiece of this whole show of all this beautiful food going out to the dining room.

And it's just fun to be able to have Chef Sam, Chef Vince and Chris all here with Savannah and creating this beautiful menu together.

(music fades) ♪ Jeff> It really was the first time that we came together as an organization where we're using all of our resources at the same time and firing on all cylinders.

It just was great.

Vince> I think this industry is definitely the epitome of organized chaos, and I think that night was a whole lot of organized chaos.

The fact that we were able to put out the food that we put out is, you know it speaks volumes of the people that were a part of it.

♪ ♪ Major funding for Fork and Hammer is provided by the ETV Endowment of South Carolina , the proud partner of South Carolina ETV and South Carolina Public Radio with the generosity of individuals, corporations and foundations.

The ETV Endowment of South Carolina is committed to sharing entertaining and uplifting stories and series like Fork and Hammer .

>> Thank you for watching Fork and Hammer This series was brought to you by Trust20 a nationally accredited food safety training provider offering accessible digital training at anytime and on all devices Learn more at Trust20.co >> Charlotte, a city shaped by storytellers, dreamers, and makers becomes a living canvas There's much more at Charlottesgotalot.com >> Fork and Hammer is brought to you by Biltmore Estate Winery .

♪