For its twenty-third season, Top Chef premiered in early March in the Carolinas, and Southern viewers might spot familiar places when new episodes air Monday nights on Bravo. With fifteen chef contestants vying for a $250,000 grand prize, the lineup of challenges kicked off at Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina, and will largely take place across venues in and around Greenville, South Carolina.
I was on the ground in Greenville during filming—sitting in on “quickfires” and elimination challenges—and spoke with judges Kristen Kish, Tom Colicchio, and Gail Simmons about where they ate when the cameras stopped rolling. What kept coming up wasn’t just the food, but Greenville’s friendly, outdoorsy personality. Kish slipped away to bike the Swamp Rabbit Trail and wander Main Street, calling the city “incredibly charming, especially with the energy of the Euphoria Food Festival going on.”
Simmons found herself drawn to the waterfalls and green spaces but also to the region’s foodways, from heirloom produce like peaches and scuppernongs to Carolina barbecue traditions. For her, Greenville is a testament to what Top Chef does best: spotlight places that might not register as obvious food destinations, but reveal themselves, bite by bite, to be something special. Here are some of the judges’ favorite eats:
Swamp Rabbit Café & Grocery
Nestled along the popular walking and cycling route known as the Swamp Rabbit Trail, this place earned must-visit status for both Kish and Simmons. Kish refueled after a bike ride with a cheeseburger and made the pilgrimage another day for a breakfast sandwich. Simmons gravitated to the cheesy grits and breakfast pogacha, a bun filled with cheese, eggs, and sausage. “It’s clearly a place that could only exist in Greenville,” Simmons says. “It’s so tied to the trail, the land, and the people—a real community hub.” Simmons says that on one visit she bumped into Top Chef alum Shuai Wang of Charleston, South Carolina, and learned she had walked by the market’s classic Stecca bread, which sells out daily. “He jumped up, ran, got me a loaf, and it was delicious.”
Sum Bar
This lively dim sum spot garnered repeat visits from all three judges. Kish singled out the chicken wontons and green beans, while Simmons, who also loved those green beans, praised the dumplings and bao. The handmade siu mai (a bite-size shrimp and pork dumpling) has its own dogged following, and after ordering it myself, I understood why. Add in Chinese broccoli slicked with oyster sauce and egg custard tarts, and the allure of Sum Bar became clear.
Scoundrel
In this dark, moody restaurant with French-bistro vibes—all exposed brick and intimate seating vignettes—Kish remembers, “We ate nearly three-quarters of the menu.” The trio quickly understood why Scoundrel recently earned a Michelin star. “Everything chef Joe Cash is doing there is outstanding,” Kish says, from the Dirty Rotten Scoundrel burger she was still thinking about days later, to his grandmother’s chocolate cake topped with a dollop of vanilla bean crème fraîche. Simmons went all in for the beef tartare, scallops, and duck fat fries.
Topsoil
About ten miles north of Greenville in Travelers Rest, this farm-driven restaurant captivated all three judges. “Topsoil feels very intentional,” Simmons says. “Chef Adam (Cooke) gave us so much context about the ingredients from this area.” Most of the produce travels from just down the road, where the Topsoil Farm spreads across sixteen acres. To plan the menu, the staff also collaborates with neighboring farmers and takes monthly explorations of Upstate South Carolina’s agricultural areas. Dishes from my own standout meal there included velvet-smooth pear and squash soup, exceedingly tender beef cheek, and a dessert crisp of murasaki sweet potatoes, rum-soaked pineapple, and pear-laced oat streusel robed in ginger crème anglaise.
Scout’s Doughnuts
A pink-tiled bar, doughnut-print wallpaper, and doughy confections stacked high on the counter made this cheerful neighborhood hangout a perfect post-challenge pit stop. Kish zeroed in on a seasonal apple pie doughnut—warmly spiced, lightly crisped at the edges—and declared it a “ten out of ten.”
Pink Mama’s Ice Cream
For a post-elimination challenge indulgence, Kish couldn’t resist this whimsical parlor in Travelers Rest, sampling rainbow sherbet and the enigmatic “mystery blue” flavor. After biking the Swamp Rabbit Trail, I beelined for a scoop of Lavender White Chocolate ice cream, piled into a homemade waffle cone with a coating of magic shell on top.
