Out to Sea NC Fest 2026

Chef Dean Neff, a James Beard Foundation “Outstanding Chef” Finalist announces Out to Sea NC Fest 2026, taking place Sunday, November 8 through Tuesday, November 10 at his acclaimed restaurant Seabird and community venues. Tickets are now on sale through Seabird! Follow @Out.to.Sea.NC, @ChefDeanNeff and @SeabirdNC for details.

What began in 2025 as the “NC Oyster & Seafood Celebration” has grown into an annual event hosted during wild oyster season, honoring the sustainable coastal foodways and fisher people defining North Carolina’s coast. Now in its second year, the celebration expands from two days to three, welcomes The Local Palate magazine as media partner, and brings award-winning chefs, and dedicated oyster farmers, fishers, and foragers together for storytelling, industry education, and immersive dining, benefiting industry and consumers alike. This years’ Out to Sea NC Fest 2026 builds on the inaugural event adding film screenings, panel discussions, welcoming guest chefs, and exploring relevant topics including the African American impact on North Carolina seafood. Beneficiaries of select events include the Cape Fear River Watch and Oyster South.

Neff plans to continue this coastal conversation year around with an Out to Sea Series taking place with guest chefs at Seabird’s new sister restaurant, Little Bird, and with enhanced festival programming for Out to Sea NC Fest 2027.

“This coast has fed our community for generations, and every year we learn there’s more of the story to tell,” said Neff.

“Growing to three days lets us really dig in — not just celebrate seafood, but sit at the table with the farmers, fishers, and cooks who are shaping North Carolina coastal foodways. Bringing chefs like Ricky, and Ade into Keith’s and my backyard, and honoring the African American foodways that built this coast, is exactly the kind of connected community
we set out to build when we started this in 2025.”
-Dean Neff

Featured Talent includes:

• Chefs: Nicole Cabrera Mills of Pêche in New Orleans, Ricky Moore of Saltbox Seafood Joint in Durham, Vivian Howard and Charlotte Coman of Theodosia in Outer Banks and Chef and The Farmer in Kinston, Adé Carenna of iLéWA Foods, Carson Jewell of Manna, Keith Rhodes of Voyce in Wilmington and Leticia Torres-Rojas of Seabird in Wilmington
• Fisher people: Ryan Speckman and Lin Peterson of Locals Seafood, Ana Shellem of Shellem Seafood, Conor MacNair of N. Sea Oyster Co., Lianne Won-Reburn of Marshallberg Caviar, Joe Romano of Seaview Crab Co, and John Malette of Southern Breeze Seafood
• Media Partners: Erin B. Murray of The Local Palate magazine, producer Maggie Ward, filmmaker Heather Burgiss
• Venue Partners: Thalian Hall, Arrive Hotels, Brooklyn Arts Center
• Charitable Partners for Saltwater Cinema: Cape Fear River Watch, Oyster South

Events include:

• Sunday: “Saltwater Stories” A Dinner and Storytelling Series with Keith Rhodes of Voyce Bistro, highlighting the impact of African American foodways on North Carolina’s coast, hosted at the Brookly Arts Center. 
• Monday AM: Fin Fish Sustainability & Seasonality class led by Locals Seafood, The State of NC Shrimp Industry class led by Seaview Crab Co., and NC Osetra Caviar class led by Marshallberg Caviar Farm, hosted at Seabird
• Monday PM: “Saltwater Cinema: Stories from the Southern Coast” at Thalian Hall. A screening and panel discussion of The Local Palate magazine’s “ShellBound: An Anthology of Southern Oyster Culture” and My Home, NC’s “Ricky Moore and Ana Shellem Forage NC Shellfish.” The event features a reception with freshly shucked oysters from six Southern oyster farmers and a wine and beer. The double feature documentary is followed by a post-screening conversation with Chef Dean Neff, Seabird; oyster farmer Conor MacNair, N. Sea Oyster Co.; shellfish forager Ana Shellem, Shellem Seafood; Chef Ricky Moore, Saltbox Seafood Joint; and filmmaker Heather Burgiss. The conversation will be moderated by Erin Byers Murray, The Local Palate magazine.
• Tuesday: Collaborative Guest Chef Dinner featuring seafood industry heroes: Seven chefs offer one course each highlighting a NC ingredient, hosted at Seabird. The dinner includes Devotion Cider pairings with special guest Diane Flynt, founder of Foggy Ridge Cider and author of Wild, Tamed, Lost, Revived: The Surprising Story of Apples in the South.

About Chef Dean Neff, Chef/Owner of Seabird and Zora’s Market & Kitchen

Dean Neff — a James Beard Foundation “Outstanding Chef” Finalist and “Best Chef Southeast” nominee — has built his culinary life around a single conviction: that North Carolina’s coast is one of the great food stories of the American South. In Spring 2021, Neff and his wife Lydia Clopton opened Seabird, Wilmington’s sustainable seafood restaurant and oyster bar, where the menu shifts daily with deliveries from coastal fishers, farmers, and foragers. Eater named it “Essential;” the Wall Street Journal, BuzzFeed’s Worth It, Garden & Gun, The Local Palate, Hemispheres, and Reader’s Digest count it among the top reasons to visit Wilmington. In 2024, Neff took stewardship of Zora’s Market & Kitchen, Wilmington’s oldest seafood market, furthering his mission to support sustainable seafood and his Wilmington community. In 2027, Neff will open Little Bird as an extension of his mission to celebrate NC seafood and community. He is an outspoken champion of North Carolina’s Oyster Trail, a regional council member for the Food Bank of Central and Eastern NC, and serves on the NC Fish Consumption Advisory at Duke University.e