By: @EatDrinkCarolinas
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Each year the Governor appoints a chef to represent the four regions of South Carolina for in-state and out-of-state events. The program, initiated under Nikki Haley, has been wildly successful in promoting S.C. culinary heritage and local food culture.
Representing the Upstate is a restaurant you need to have on your radar: Chef Sarah McClure of Southside Smokehouse in Landrum. She’s the daughter of a rather fine pitmaster, though McClure cut her culinary chops as a sous chef under Peter Dale at Hugh Acheson’s The National in Athens, G.A. She returned home to Spartanburg County to amp the dinner menu at her dad’s restaurant and fell back in love with her own hometown.
She produces phenomenal locally-driven dishes (including a pan seared quail with walnut that will make you swoon) and offers one of the deepest bourbon collections I’ve seen in S.C.
For the first time, all of the Chef Ambassadors this year are female and span the state’s cuisine in both style and cuisine. Kiki Cyrus is at the helm of Kiki’s Chicken and Waffles in Cola, Heidi Vukov owns both a bakery and a fine dining restaurant in Myrtle Beach and Michelle Weaver is THE French standard in Charleston at the helm of none other than Charleston Grill.
