Duke’s Mayonnaise has “got that twang” and Charleston has got tomato fever this week when the classic southern condiment brand teams up with over 60 local bars, restaurants and catering companies to present Duke’s Hot Tomato Summer from July 18 through July 28.
The annual event, which started in Duke’s headquarters in Richmond, VA, in 2021, has grown to include six southern cities and 330 participating restaurants.
“It was a way, after the pandemic, to bring foot traffic back to our restaurants and bring a little bit of joy back into eating out,” said Duke’s brand manager, Rebecca Lupesco. “But we all had so much fun — and the restaurants had so much fun — that we were like, let’s keep expanding this.”
Participating cities now include Richmond, Raleigh, Charlotte, Knoxville, Greenville and of course, Charleston (which is in its second year).
How does one celebrate a hot tomato summer? According to Lupesco, participating restaurants simply have to create a menu item that incorporates Duke’s mayo and tomatoes.
“It’s really the creativity of these restaurants and how playful they want to get or, you know, how serious they want to be,” she said. “It’s just a way to celebrate the season.”
The range of mayo/tomato creations is broad — from classic sandwiches (grab a pork belly BLT at Baguette Magic’s locations) to funky cocktails (Gin Joint’s serving a clarified milk punch) to, yes, dessert items (head to The Royal American for a carrot cake made with Duke’s).
The hot tomato offerings span the globe, too. You can find iterations of mayo and tomato dishes at French, Spanish and Filipino restaurants in town, like Felix Cocktails et Cuisine’s crab salad sandwich, served with frites and Duke’s chipotle mayo; Estadio’s BLT, made with boquerones, lettuce, tomato, Duke’s and bacon vinaigrette and Kultura’s sisig carbonara made with pork belly, roasted tomatoes, roasted mushroom, noodles and calamansi mayo.
Give the people what they want
Local restaurants have seized the opportunity to include local tomatoes on their seasonal summer menus too, expanding on the 10 days of fun with the ideal hot-weather dish.
You’ll find heirloom tomato toast, made with Normandy Farms sourdough and tomatoes from Rosebank Farms on Prohibition’s summer menu. Rudy Royale’s summer dish, heirloom tomato salad, is a fixture on the seasonal menu and gets the Duke’s treatment this week with the addition of the mayo and breadcrumbs.
The folks at King BBQ (where you can find a glowing Duke’s sign behind the bar) love using Duke’s year-round (look no further than their frequent use of it in daily specials) and they plan on serving a house smoked pork belly BLT with local heirloom tomatoes, crunchy bibb lettuce and Duke’s during hot tomato summer.
Chef-owner Shuai Wang said: “The beautiful part about a tomato with Duke’s mayonnaise is that’s all you need. Salt and pepper if you want to, but I just like it as is. It’s a perfect sandwich.”
Part of the fun of Duke’s hot tomato summer is also the opportunity to score bragging rights by taking home the Golden Tomato. Diners can vote on their favorite local hot tomato dish starting on July 18. The Royal American took home the gold last year with their array of tomato specials, including a triple-decker BLT.
Whether they’re taking home the gold or not, all local restaurants are invited to a wrap party, a first for Duke’s hot tomato summer participants. Duke’s has partnered with Charleston Wine + Food to throw a pool party for participating hot tomato restaurants and their staff, a rare break for food and bev workers sweating through long summer shifts.
“They don’t have to cook, they can let loose, there are no customers there,” said Lupesco. “It’s just a party.”
The party starts for area diners on July 18. As Lupesco suggests, lean into the heat and bite into a fresh tomato dish. “The name of the event has ‘hot’ in it. You know it’s hot,” she said. “Go out and sweat and eat some mayonnaise and tomatoes.”
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