Southern Smoke Festival 2026 Tickets Are On Sale Now

Join us for an unforgettable experience of incredible food, drinks, and community on Saturday, October 3. This year, almost 100 celebrated chefs, beverage professionals, and hospitality visionaries will come together for an afternoon of world-class bites, libations, live music, immersive experiences, and more, all to raise critical funds for emergency relief and mental health support for food and beverage workers nationwide.

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Shuai
Chef Image
& Corrie Wang
Charleston, SC /
Jackrabbit Filly & King BBQ
WHERE WILL I BE COOKING:
The Throwdown

Shuai and Corrie Wang are the owners and operators of Jackrabbit Filly and King BBQ, two neighborhood restaurants that are proudly located in North Charleston, South Carolina. Born in Beijing, China, Shuai Wang grew up in Queens, NY and spent his formative years cooking in the steak houses and bistros of New York City’s Lower West Side. In his twenties, he met his partner and future wife, Corrie Wang, through the pass of a kitchen window. Corrie grew up in Buffalo, NY and got into the Food and Bev business to support a novel writing habit. Shortly after meeting, the two moved to Charleston, SC, where they started the James Beard nominated food truck, Short Grain. Working closely with local farmers and fishermen, Shuai’s cuisine is inspired by his grandmother, mom and his Chinese heritage. Their restaurants have graced the pages of Garden and Gun, Local Palate, Savor, Southern Living, the cover of Bon Appetit and appeared on NPR. In 2024 King BBQ won Eater’s Best New BBQ restaurant, Top 10 Best New BBQ Restaurants from Southern Living and Top 20 Best New Restaurants by Bon Appetit. The couple was also named Charleston’s StarChefs Restaurateurs of the Year. In 2025, Shuai was chosen as a South Carolina Chef Ambassador and became a founding member of Charleston’s first AAPI organization. He was also a finalist on Season 22 of Top Chef. Corrie is now a published author of two novels through Little Brown, a graduate of the James Beard WEL program, and a board member of the Independent Restaurant Coalition. When the couple is not doing restaurant related things, they hide in their tiny yellow home with their three free-loading hound mixes.