Taste of Birkdale Returns for 2026
Jennifer Foster October 12, 2026
Jennifer Foster October 12, 2026
Three years is a long time to wait for a second helping. Taste of Birkdale is finally back at Birkdale Village on Saturday, October 24. It brings dishes from 10 restaurants, an open bar and live music to one afternoon in Huntersville.
Tickets are $75 per person and cover everything, so you won't be digging for your card between the burger bites and the pie. Every dollar from ticket sales goes to Community Culinary School of Charlotte (CCSC). It's a local nonprofit that trains adults facing barriers to steady work and helps them find jobs in food service.
That's about as good a deal as you'll find around here. You eat well, and the people learning to cook for the region's restaurants get real support. Fall is settling in over the lake, and Birkdale's Willow Oak-lined streets are at their best this time of year, which makes a cocktail in hand and a plate in the other pretty easy to picture.
Whether you've been coming to Birkdale since it opened in 2003 or just figured out where the parking deck is, here's what's on the menu, who you're supporting and what else is going on at The Village this month.
Think of it as a progressive dinner where someone else plans the route and does the dishes.
Ten Birkdale Village restaurants will serve dishes made just for the event, along with paired bites. There's also an open bar with curated cocktails, beer and wine. The lineup mixes savory, sweet and signature favorites!
Local media personality Jacinda Jacobs is the emcee. Split Second Sound DJ & Entertainment and Colby Dobbs are handling the live music, so expect a soundtrack to go with all that grazing.
The table to watch is the one run by CCSC students. They'll serve a dish of their own, which gives you a firsthand taste of what they're learning in the program. You'll be sampling food from restaurants that have been feeding Huntersville for years, right next to food from cooks just starting out.
For nearly 30 years, CCSC has been turning second chances into careers.
The school started in 1997 with two students in a single room of an unfinished warehouse. It recently welcomed its 84th class, has graduated more than 1,200 students and turns 30 next year. That's a lot of careers built from one room.
The program is tuition-free and lasts 14 weeks, with sessions three times a year. Students train for both front- and back-of-house jobs in an industry that always needs reliable, skilled people. They include veterans, single parents and caregivers, people leaving incarceration or in recidivism programs, and others looking for a path to steadier finances.
Keeping it free is what keeps it open to everyone, and it isn't cheap. Putting one student through costs about $10,355. That pays for chef instructors and life coaches, uniforms, aprons and shoes, transportation passes, classroom materials, job-readiness training, ServSafe® certification, graduation costs, and food.
"It's an honor and privilege to be the recipient of ticket proceeds for Taste of Birkdale," said Chef Ron Ahlert, CCSC Executive Director. "This type of support affords us the opportunity to continue providing tuition-free training to future culinarians and have them touch the success they envision for themselves."
The money raised goes straight to CCSC's job training and job placement work across the Charlotte area and beyond. The next time you're having a great meal somewhere between Huntersville and Mooresville, there's a fair chance someone like these graduates had a hand in it.
If one afternoon of tasting isn't enough (no judgment), Birkdale Village Restaurant Week leads right into the main event.
From October 17 to 23, participating restaurants will serve limited-time dishes, pairings and drinks. It's a good excuse to try the spot you keep walking past on the way to the movie theater.
This year there's a bonus. Scan the QR code at any participating restaurant for a chance to win Taste of Birkdale tickets, Birkdale Village gift cards, swag and more. If you were already planning dinner out that week, you might also end up with a free ticket to the big finale.
October is a busy month at The Village, and plenty is still to come:
Birkdale Village was reimagined in 2022 and now covers 52 acres. It has more than 60 shops and restaurants, a movie theater, apartments, office space and green spaces that host more than 100 events a year. It's only 14 miles from Charlotte, but it feels like its own little town, which is why so many lake-area folks treat it as one.
To keep up with what's next, visit birkdalevillage.com and follow Birkdale Village on Instagram and Facebook.
Taste of Birkdale doesn't come around every year. This time it's back with 10 restaurants, an open bar, live music and a cause that changes lives right here in our corner of North Carolina.
Get your tickets, bring a friend and come hungry. Swing by during Restaurant Week, too, while you're at it. Every bite on October 24 helps someone in the Charlotte area build a career in the kitchen. We're lucky to have restaurants and a community that show up for each other like this, so let's fill those tables.
More info at: https://www.birkdalevillage.com/events/taste-of-birkdale-village
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