Chef Dean Neff Announces 2nd Annual Out to Sea NC Fest
NC Seafood Advocate Chef Dean Neff Announces Out to Sea NC Fest 2026
Second Annual Celebration Expands to Three Days, Welcomes Visiting Chefs and National Media Partner
November 8–10, 2026
Tickets on Sale at Seabirdnc.com/Events
[WILMINGTON, NC – September 28, 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 will be on sale Monday 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, Keith Rhodes of Voyce in Wilmington and Leticia Torres-Rojas of Seabird in Wilmington
- Fisher people: Lin Peterson of Locals Seafood, Ana Shellem of Shellem Seafood, Conor McNair 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” Dinner with Keith Rhodes, highlighting the impact of African American foodways on North Carolina’s coast, hosted at the Brookly Arts Center
- Monday: Seafood class & tasting led by Locals Seafood, Seaview Crab Co., Southern Breeze Seafood and Marshallberg Caviar Farm, hosted at Seabird
- Monday: 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” plus My Home, NC’s“Ricky Moore and Ana Shellem Forage NC Shellfish,” coupled with an oyster tasting
- Tuesday: Collaborative Guest Chef Dinner featuring seafood industry heroes: Seven chefs offer one course each highlighting a NC ingredient, hosted at Seabird
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.
Source images of Chef Dean Neff, of oysters at Seabird, of seafood entrees at Seabird, and of Seabird interiors here.
Source Shellbound photography here.
Source images of Chef Dean Neff with forager Ana Shellem on the water here.
Visit Seabird for tickets and details. Follow @Out.to.Sea.NC, @SeabirdNC, @ZorasMarketandKitchen and @ChefDeanNeff.
Media Inquiries Contact: Jennifer Noble Kelly
Jennifer@JNKPublicRelations.
