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What is a Chef and Maker Event?

Chef and Maker coming through! Looking for an event to try out traditional cuisine from the coast of North Carolina? You can’t go wrong with the Chef and Maker events taking place at the Pinehurst Resort in Pinehurst, North Carolina. This is the second offering of events for this year. The next and final one for 2018 will take place in September.

The weekend’s events showcase Chef Dean Neff and his Pinpoint Restaurant, from Wilmington, North Carolina. The maker side of the weekend will have you learning all about chocolate, from Dan and Joel Rattigan, of French Broad Chocolates.

The foodie in me jumped on the idea of a whole weekend centering on food. My love for Wilmington  made this an even more special opportunity. Pinehurst is a beautiful area, a golfer’s Mecca. There is something for every golfer out there. Whether playing or looking for memorabilia, you won’t be disappointed.

A Quick Tour of the Area

Our State Magazine advertised the Chef and Maker events for Pinehurst. They offered packages through the Pinehurst Resort. With the Carolina Hotel hosting the events, I got lucky and snagged a room just steps away from the festivities. This hotel is expansive and steeped in history, dating back to the early 1900’s.

Not even a half mile from the hotel, you will find Pinehurst Village. Shops and restaurants abound, from golf memorabilia to boutique clothing, olive oil to wine tastings, and Japanese cuisine to bar bites. There was plenty to explore before the welcome reception the first night.

In the other direction, you will find a number of golf courses at Pinehurst Country Club. The famous #2, with a statue of Payne Stewart, was tops on the list of photo opps. Around the area you will find a short 9-hole course, lawn tennis, bocce ball, tennis courts, a pool and a number of restaurants. This area was the site for the US Open in 1999, 2005 and 2014, with the event returning here in 2024.

Coastal Carolina Dinner Reception

The Chef and Maker series for this July began with a welcome reception. The menu for the evening was extensive, to say the least. You can see a sampling of the menu here, to go with the pictures to help you visualize the offerings for the evening.

Along with food, there was a wide array of drink options, from beer to wine to spirits. Keeping with the North Carolina-themed evening, most of the drink offerings came from local or North Carolina-made companies. Wines from Jolo Vineyards, near Mount Airy, North Carolina, brought smooth reds and light whites. Method + Standard brought apple spice mules and cucumber lemonade cocktails to chill you on a hot summer night. Plenty of beer options were available, including Southern Pines Brewing Company, from just 10 minutes down the road.

The drinks highlight was Sutler’s Spirits and their gin watermelon rosemary lemonade. Based in Winston-Salem, this company partners with local farmers to bring the best cocktail ingredients together. With a smooth gin such as theirs, they won’t have any trouble finding a following. Check out the bottom of your bottle for a special message.

The Main Course

The Chef and Maker welcome reception had no shortage of food. Meats, seafood, vegetables, desserts, salads. You name it, you can find it. You really had to take a trip around the reception area, so you could truly get a lay of the land.

For the meat lover, the grilled pork shoulder with grits and collards was a true homage to this southern dish. The harissa rubbed lamb with watermelon and goat cheese was a tasty combination of savory and sweet. And the grilled beef ribeye with beach fries was a new take on a popular dish

For the seafood lover, the octopus and pickled North Carolina shrimp got a kick with a green garlic ranch sauce. The North Carolina blue crab fritters melted in your mouth. There were shrimp and oysters as far as you could see. I got to see them making the mussels with housemade bacon. Absolutely delicious!

Dessert, Anyone?

Everyone knows that the best part of a meal is the treat at the end. This Chef and Maker event had plenty from which to choose. The strawberry shortcake bites were the perfect size to sample this sweet dish. The pink lemonade cake was delectable. The pistachio ice cream bars, covered in dark chocolate, were a dream. The panna cotta with blueberry compote was light and fruity. There were so many choices; it was hard to pick just a few.

The sweets continue tomorrow, with day #2 of the Chef and Maker weekend at Pinehurst Resort. After some morning cooking demonstrations from Chef Neff, we’ll learn how to make chocolate. The treat will be in what they have us sample. Stay tuned for more posts and pictures from this weekend’s events. If you like what you see, be sure to check out their next Chef and Maker event in September.