Charleston's "Mac Off" is a must if you are in town in October or if you are local. Enjoy plenty of food and drinks for only $20. You don't have to strictly eat mac n' cheese, they also served southern style chicken and bbq ribs. A zip line, local bands, a bloody mary bar, funnel cakes (so sad I missed these somehow) and a farmer's market added to the excitement. There was even a tent where you could paint on canvas with friends and enjoy some wine together.
Just look at this...
Before we get to the food, we arrived by boat and you can too. There was a water taxi providing a shuttle from downtown to the event (located at Patriot's Point) and back. If you have your own boat, the Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina allows you to park at F dock for free.
Love these Cat-Eyes from Cutler and Gross Online at J.Crew |
We opened some wine and did a little sailing.
I mostly watch while Mark sails.
Patriot's Point is the home of the USS Yorktown, an aircraft carrier, along with a submarine and a destroyer. These are museum ships and you can find out more about how to tour them here. Look at the aircraft carrier in the background...
Finally the food! Our first stop was Graze.
Mark has his trusty backpack chair on.
I love this use of wine barrels for cocktail tables.
Our favorite mac n' cheese was this delicious concoction of New Belgium Beer mac n' cheese with a potato chip crust. Yes, that says potato. chip. crust. Holy cow! The restaurant that made this beast of a treat is called The Green Goat.
Next up was Kiawah Island's Cherrywood BBQ and Ale House. Three cheese and basil with red pepper mac n' cheese.
Poogan's Porch, from downtown Charleston, made their recipe with bacon and green spring onion.
We stumbled upon these boisterous two from Liberty Tap Room. Their mac n' cheese had house queso, sharp cheddar, asiago with a parmesan garlic ritz cracker crumble. Whoo!
With a full couple of bellies, this bloody mary tent looked tasty and it was! The Charleston Bloody Mary Mix had just the right spice and instead of horseradish they use chili peppers in their recipe. Yum! You can purchase some of your own here.
We conveniently brought our backpack chairs and took a seat by the band.
Other vendors included a farmer's market set up by Blackbird Farms...
These lovely girls were handing out samples of wine from Rex-Goliath. I just love their outfits!
With tickets left over, I felt the need to try yet I don't know where I stuffed it because... then Boom! Then Coleman Public House hit us with this, Orechiette and Smoked Duck Mac.
Wow or as they say in French wa-ooooo!
Amazing!
As we turned to look at the next tent, Bam! We got hit again by another incredible mac n' cheese from New Moon Pizzeria, fried pimento mac n' cheese balls. Delicious!
The 2013 winners for the Mac Off Competition were...
Best Overall Mac and Cheese - GRAZE
Best Local Ingredient - The Tomato Shed (somehow I missed this one)
People's Choice Best Mac and Cheese - CRAVE
Best Local Ingredient - The Tomato Shed (somehow I missed this one)
People's Choice Best Mac and Cheese - CRAVE
As we headed home, the aircraft carrier was all lit up and the sky had turned into a beautiful Bob Ross painting.
Peplum Top Forever 21
We arrived at the mooring and had a little fruit and salmon cream cheese rolls to finish the evening.
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