Tale of the Fish at Wild Dunes

This past Sunday marked the 2nd annual "Tale of the Fish" culinary event at Wild Dunes resort. Do you like wine? How about fish? If you answered "yes" to both of those questions, then this is the event for you. 

Charleston chefs Mike Lata of FIG and The Ordinary and Ken Vedrinski of Trattoria Lucca and Coda del Pesce invited their chef friends from around the country to join us for a taste of the world, featuring Italian & Mediterranean-inspired recipes. Guests savored each dish alongside paired wines from seven of Italy’s most beloved wineries.

Featured Chefs

• Brett Sparman: Wild Dunes Resorts Sea Island Grill- Charleston, SC
• Mike Lata: FIG and The Ordinary- Charleston, SC
• Ken Vedrinski: Trattoria Lucca  & Coda del Pesce- Charleston, SC
• Steven Greene: The Umstead- Cary, NC
• Michael Toscano: Perla- New York, NY
• Dean Max: DMJ Restaurant Group- Florida 
• Clay Conley: Buccan & Imoto- Palm Beach, FL

Shaved watermelon beets

Chef Michael Toscano plated Couscous alla Trapanese 

Couscous alla Trapanese with local seafood, saffron, cherry tomatoes, and pine nuts

Chef Mike Lata served Bourride- a classic fish stew

Chef Steven Greene served a flounder crudo with toasted farro, pickled garlic, green olive, citrus, and pistachio

There were also some cool vendors onsite offering up samples of their wares. Reps from Galliano, an Italian liqueur, served up two different cocktails, as well as tastings of their two signature liquors. 

A featured cocktail from Galliano with muddled strawberries and edible flowers

Craig Nelson of Proof created two speciality cocktails for the event

Local alcohol-infused ice cream purveyor, JB's Pr%f  (made in Columbia, SC) gave out samplings of their different ice cream flavors (all of which were delicious by the way, though the Chocolate Mocha Moonshine was probably my favorite).

I had a lot of fun at the event, and the view was aboslutely spectacular (how can you beat sunset at the beach?). My one (rather large) complaint is that the event was billed as lasting from 5 to 8 p.m. I arrived around 6:00, and started sampling the food and wines. By 6:30, half of the food stands out of food, although the alcohol was still flowing (and they were still charging people full price to get in). By 7:00, all of the food was gone, but there was still plenty of wine to go around! While I'm never one to complain about an open bar, I find it a little irresponsible that they were serving so much alcohol without any food to go along with it. Plus, it's ridiculous that at $85 a ticket, the portions weren't planned out a little better. If you go next year, plan to arrive early!