Two South Carolina specialty foods are silver finalists in the 2012 sofi awards of the National Association of Specialty Food Trade, Inc. 

Callie’s Charleston Biscuits won silver awards in three categories: appetizer, antipasto, salad or dip for Carrie’s Fiery Pimento Cheese; in baked goods, baking ingredients or cereal for Callie’s Charleston Shortcake Biscuits; and in frozen savory for Callie’s Charleston Cheese and Chive Biscuit.

Carolina Creole sauce, made by Luguire Family Foods of Georgetown, won a silver award in the shelf-stable foodservice product.

A sofi award – sofi stands for Specialty Outstanding Food Innovation -- is the top honor in the $70 billion specialty food industry. The NASFT is a non-profit trade association. Gold winners will be announced at a June 18 ceremony at the Summer Fancy Food Show in Washington, D.C.

Callie White and her daughter, Carrie Morey, started Callie’s Charleston Biscuits in 2005 and now have retailers in every state. In South Carolina, the company’s products are sold online and at specialty shops as well as at some The Fresh Market, Piggly Wiggly and Harris Teeter stores.

Carolina Creole has only been available since summer 2011. It’s the special shrimp creole sauce that Jo Luguire has been making for years. It’s sold in 25-ounce jars online and in specialty food shops and in Piggly Wiggly.

Jo Luguire, her son and daughter-in-law, Jason and Micki Luguire, are the family members behind Carolina Creole. I tried it out in March and loved it as a way to get a great meal on the table in a hurry.

Have you planned something special for your mom for Mother’s Day? About 75 million Americans will be taking their special woman out to dine, according to the National Restaurant Association, whether it’s for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner. It is the most popular holiday to dine out, the association says.

All those people can’t be wrong so you might want to make your plans in a hurry for Mother’s Day, which is May 13.

Many restaurants across South Carolina are offering special meals that day, and here are a few to give you some ideas.

Nose Dive in Greenville is having a brunch buffet as well as a kid’s buffet with foods for young taste buds like fried chicken legs, pasta and marinara, and grilled cheese. The price is $22 for adults, $8 for children 7-12 and free for those 6 and younger.

Devereaux's in Greenville will be serving Sunday brunch and its dinner menu on Mother’s Day. The brunch cost is $29 per adult, $14 for children 7-14 and free for those 6 and younger.

At The Lazy Goat in Greenville, a brunch buffet will feature breakfast items and carving stations for salmon and pork loin. The price is $26 for adults, $12 for children 7 - 12 and free for those 6 and younger.

Soby's in Greenville will be serving breakfast brunch and lunch dishes at brunch from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and will be open for dinner. The brunch price is $27 for adults, $12 for children 7-12 and free for those 6 and younger.

High Cotton in Charleston is offering a jazz brunch with appetizer and entrée for $25. Among the entrees offered are lump crab Benedict, shrimp and grits, and roast leg of lamb.

At Slightly North of Broad in Charleston, appetizer and entrée are $23, and entrée choices include Maverick eggs Benedict, roast prime rib and maverick shrimp and grits.

The brunch at the Old Village Post House in Mount Pleasant includes appetizer and entrée for $21.

Chestnut Hill in Myrtle Beach, always a popular spot for brunch, is offering a Mother’s Day brunch buffet with a number of entrees, including prime rib au jus carving station, ham, smoked salmon and shrimp, as well as side dishes and breakfast items. The price is $24.95 for adults, $19.94 for seniors and teens, $9.95 for children 4-10, and free for children 3 and younger.

Charleston Chef Craig Deihl was one of the winners at the big party, but he didn’t take home the grand prize.

Deihl, of Cypress, was a finalist for the James Beard Foundation award for Best Chef: Southeast, but the top award went to two Georgia chefs. It was a tie between Hugh Acheson of Five and Ten in Athens, Ga., and Linton Hopkins of Restaurant Eugene in Atlanta.

It was the second year in a row that Deihl was a finalist for the Southeast award.

Minutes before the ceremony began at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, Deihl tweeted: “Just got a call from mom. Now I'm nervous.”

The other two finalists were Edward Lee of 610 Magnolia, Louisville, Ky., and Joseph Lenn of The Barn at BlackBerry Farm, Walland, Tenn.

The Beard awards are considered one of the highest honors for professionals in the culinary industry and often are called the Oscars of the food world.

Deihl has been chef of Cypress since it opened in 2001. Before that, he was at Magnolias, also owned by Hospitality Management Group Inc. 

Deihl is known for his charcuterie. In 2009, he began Artisan Meat Share, a program similar to a CSA where shareholders get packages of his charcuterie. He also is author of a cookbook, “Cypress,” published in 2007.

In addition to being a finalist for the Best Chef: Southeast award for the past two years, he was a semi-finalist in 2010. A native of Danville, Pa., he is a graduate of Johnson and Wales University in Charleston.

This year, two other Charleston chefs – Ken Vedrinski of Trattoria Lucca and Jeremiah Bacon of The Macintosh – also were semifinalists.

South Carolina has been well represented in the James Beard awards competition in recent years with Charleston chefs claiming the Best Chef: Southeast title for three of the past five years. Sean Brock of McCrady’s and Husk won in 2010, Mike Lata of FIG in 2009 and Robert Stehling of Hominy Grill in 2008.

Brock was one of the chefs cooking at the post-ceremony gala reception. Each chef was asked to make a dish inspired by James Beard, and a posting on the foundation’s blog showed what some of the chefs would serve to Beard himself.

Brock’s response: “I would make him cornbread, tomato-cornmeal gravy, and my mom’s recipe for chicken and dumplings. I would end the meal with 15-year Pappy Van Winkle’s bourbon and my grandma’s sorghum–apple stack cake.”

This year, Brock was among 20 semifinalists for Outstanding Chef, one of the Foundation’s top awards.

The Macintosh was one of 29 restaurants named semifinalists for Best New Restaurant. Bacon and managing partner Steve Palmer opened the restaurant last fall.

Great festivals continue throughout South Carolina during May, and many of them celebrate our favorite foods. Get a taste of these:

May 1-5, South Carolina Strawberry Festival, Fort Mill.

May 4-5, A Taste of Beaufort.

May 4-5, Hog on the Hill Barbecue Cook-Off, Chester.

May 5, Rosewood Crawfish Festival, Columbia.

May 5, Charleston Cinco De Mayo Festival.

May 5, Lowcountry Shrimp Festival and Blessing of the Fleet, McClellanville.

May 6, Brunch on the Bank, Charleston.

May 11-12, Mayfest on Main, North Myrtle Beach.

May 12, Bluffton Village Festival.

May 17-20, Greek Festival, Greenville.

May 19, Rib Burnoff, Hilton Head.

May 19-20, Blue Crab Festival, Little River.

May 20, The Taste of Hartsville, 6:30-8:30 p.m.

May 25-26, Papa Joe’s Banjo-B-Que, North Augusta.

May 25-27, The 26th Annual Original Gullah Festival, Beaufort.

The defending champ took home the prize again at the Coastal Uncorked Chef’s Challenge.

Chef Eric Masson of the Brentwood Restaurant in Little River won the challenge for the second straight year Sunday, April 29, at the third annual Coastal Uncorked Food, Wine and Spirits Tasting in Myrtle Beach.

The Iron Chef-style competition, the finale for the 2012 Coastal Uncorked, featured five Grand Strand chefs. Judges were Matt and Ted Lee, authors of several cookbooks and writers for well-known magazines, and Chef Louis Osteen of Louis’s at Sanford’s in Pawleys Island.

The event was the finale for the 2012 Coastal Uncorked, which Ted Lee said “really is the most hospitable of all the festivals we go to.”

Matt Lee said he and his brother were honored to be paired as judges with Osteen, “who totally ushered in the new dining scene in Charleston.” Osteen, the 2004 James Beard winner for Best Chef in the Southeast, owned restaurants in Charleston and Pawleys Island for years before spending some time in Nashville and Las Vegas. He returned to Pawleys Island earlier this year.

The first round of the competition pitted Chef Eric Wagner of Horry Georgetown Technical College’s culinary program and Chef Brad Daniels of Croissants Bistro & Bakery. Daniels won that round.

In round two, Chef Andrew Gardo of Sea Captain’s House defeated Chef Corbett Rourk of The Dunes Golf & Beach Club. 

Gardo and Daniels competed in round three, with Gardo winning the right to face Masson.

In each 20-minute round, the chefs were given mystery ingredients that had to be used in the dish they created. Gardo and Masson were given fresh local trigger fish from Seven Seas Seafood in Murrells Inlet, pickled watermelon rind and black truffles. The 3 ½ ounces split between the two chefs were $580 per pound and bought through Lee’s Farmers Market in Murrells Inlet.

Masson’s creation was a potato-crusted trigger fish with a pickled watermelon beurre blanc sauce with shaved truffles on top.

The Lee Brothers also participated in Coastal Uncorked last year, and both times they talked about the differences between Charleston and Myrtle Beach.

“Charleston is a hospitable place, but it’s a little bit buttoned-up,” Ted Lee said. “What we love about Myrtle Beach is that it’s very casual. The first thing my brother did when he walked in the tent was take off his shoes and socks.”

Sure enough, Matt Lee walked around barefoot all evening.

The brothers and their families split their time between homes in Charleston and New York.

While the crowd gathered under the large tent on the site of the former Pavilion Amusement Park didn’t taste what the chefs cooked in competition cooked, plenty of other food was available for them.

The Sea Captain’s House, The Dunes Club, Croissants and the Brentwood served crab cakes, scallop ceviche, crème brulee and cake pops. Culinary students at Horry Georgetown Technical College served five salads, including a delicious shrimp salad in vinaigrette.

Wine was also plentiful, and samples of the festival’s winning cocktail were served. Christa Brown and Jeffrey Ray, mixologists from the House of Blues in North Myrtle Beach, served their winning Ciroc Gummy Berry Martini, which is rimmed with Kool-Aid and has a gummy bear in each drink.

Part of the proceeds from Coastal Uncorked will go to HGTC’s School of Culinary Arts and to Coastal Carolina University’s Clay Brittain School of Resort Management.