The third annual Taste of Wrightsville Beach will take place on Oct. 11.

Produced by the Wrightsville Beach Foundation, the event is expected to draw a crowd of more than 650 attendees who will have access to more than 30 tasting booths serving samples of food, beer and wine.

The participating restaurants will be judged by a panel of local judges. This year’s purveyors include 22 North, South Beach Grill, Banks Channel Pub & Grille, Bluewater Grill, Oceanic, Robert’s Grocery, Tower 7, Bridge Tender, Fish House Grill, King Neptune, Holiday Inn’s Oceans Restaurant, and SurfBerry. New additions to this year’s line-up include Mellow Mushroom, Sweet and Savory, Martino’s, Port City Chop House and Causeway Café.
 
Also competing will be the returning champion, East Oceanfront Dining of the Blockade Runner Beach Resort.
 
Chef Eric Carpenter led East to win both the People’s Choice and Best of Show categories at last year’s event. His award-winning offering was a sweet potato shortbread wafer topped with braised Heritage Farms pork belly, squash slaw and a peach habanero BBQ sauce.
 
Other dishes served last year included sesame tuna with watermelon and pickled ginger, avocado and buffalo shrimp spoons, scallop and ahi tuna ceviche, wheatgrass shots and butternut squash shooters.
 
North Carolina beer will be represented by Kind Beers and Ironclad Breweries of Wilmington, White Street Brewing Company of Wake Forest, Carolina Brewing Company of Holly Springs, Aviator Brewing Company of Fuquay Varina, Big Boss of Raleigh, Carolina Brewery of Chapel Hill, Triangle Brewing of Durham, LoneRider Brewing Company of Raleigh and Natty Greene’s Brewing Company of Greensboro.
 
Wines from Copa Di Vino, Duplin Winery, Juice Wine Purveyors, ONEHOPE Wine and Windham Distributing Company will also be served.
 
This year’s panel of judges will include Liz Biro, food writer for the Indianapolis Star and former Greater Wilmington Business Journal contributor; Diane Withrow, Hospitality Management at Cape Fear Community College; Eric Gephart of the Chef’s Academy; state Rep. Rick Catlin and Wrightsville Beach mayor Bill Blair.
 
The event will take place 5-8 p.m. on the waterfront at Marine Max. Entertainment will be provided by the Blue Tang Bandits and proceeds will benefit the Wrightsville Beach Beautification Fund and the Weekend Meals on Wheels program which benefits seniors and homebound individuals in New Hanover County. 

This year’s title sponsor is Live Oak Bank of Wilmington. Host sponsors Marine Max and Jeff Gordon Chevrolet will display their latest models. For tickets, go to www.wrightsvillebeachfoundation.org

Have a tip for restaurant roundup? Email us at [email protected].