Ceviche’s dining room seats only 30 people and its kitchen has one grill and no oven, but the tiny restaurant’s Panamanian fare captured the top two prizes at the fourth annual Taste of Wrightsville Beach.
As rain blanketed Mott’s Channel Oct. 10, hundreds of guests gathered under white tents near the MarineMax docks to sample cuisine from 17 Wrightsville Beach restaurants whose chefs were competing for votes from both attendees and a panel of five judges.
Last year, Ceviche’s placed second in the People’s Choice category only weeks after the restaurant opened. Since then, Ceviche’s brought on head chef Sam Cahoon. Despite his restaurant’s small kitchen and staff, Cahoon and his sous chefs developed a complex menu with both sweet and savory dishes to serve Taste of Wrightsville Beach guests.
The night before the event, sous chef Edson Juarez rolled 500 empanadas. Before dawn the next morning, Cahoon and his younger brother, sous chef Christian Cahoon, fried 700 arepas, a type of flatbread, and diced 20 pounds of tuna. They assembled the ingredients during the event to create BLT arepas, tuna ceviche and pumpkin cheesecake with hibiscus and caramel sauce.
“We did it last minute because we wanted it to be as fresh as possible,” Cahoon said, attributing Ceviche’s wins in the People’s Choice and Best Overall categories to his staff’s talent and cohesiveness.
Head chef Ben Ramsey of East Oceanfront Dining, located inside the Blockade Runner Beach Resort, also credited his team in developing a menu that earned third place in the Best Overall category.
“One of my sous chefs wanted to do a taco, and another one wanted to put beef and coffee together, so we all got together and came up with coffee braised beef brisket tacos,” he said. “Butternuts are in season, so we put butternuts and Napa cabbage on it, and blackberry sauce to sweeten it up.”
22 North, which swept the top awards last year and placed second in People’s Choice this year, also served a menu of seasonal flavors like pumpkin sage grits and lobster zucchini cakes. Head chef Brent Poteat said while the menu represents what he serves in his restaurant, the fare he dished out at Taste of Wrightsville Beach was a new creation. Inventing dishes is what makes the long hours and hard work worthwhile, he said.
“I wouldn’t do this if I had to do the same thing every day,” Poteat said. “Who wants to stand up for 70 hours a week? At least I’ve got to enjoy it.”
This year, Taste of Wrightsville Beach added prizes for Best Dessert, and two first-time entrants, Loops Homemade Donuts and The Post Coffee Shop, clinched first and second place.
Loops co-owners Dylan Domnick and Colby Domnick brought an assortment of donuts to offer guests a variety to sample, but everyone seemed interested in one flavor in particular.
“Salted caramel,” the brothers agreed. “We’re the only ones that do the salted caramel, and that was the first to sell out because word got around fast.”
While the brothers admitted they were aiming to win the dessert award, they and the other chefs said simply participating in Taste of Wrightsville Beach gave them a valuable opportunity to introduce themselves to patrons going into the offseason while helping to benefit several food-related programs.
This year’s event proceeds went to Cape Fear Community College’s culinary arts club, the Pineapple Guild, and the weekend Meals on Wheels program.
Weekend Meals on Wheels volunteer Phyllis Lee said while the weekday Meals on Wheels is funded by New Hanover County, the weekend program is completely supported by volunteers and donations.
“Hunger doesn’t take the weekends off,” she said.
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