Dyngus Day, a Peabody and more

Dyngus Day, sort of the Polish equivalent to St. Patrick's, is always the Monday after Easter (in fact, it's sometimes called Wet Monday and features a traditional soaking of girls by boys with buckets of water, squirt guns, etc. Don't ask). So it's April 21 this year and one group is planning a full-out celebration at the Red Fez Club (on Lake Wylie), with polka band and Polish food. Organizer Christina Newcomb wants it to become an annual event: "It's high time considering our growing Polish and Northeastern demographics, coupled with our serious lack of ethnic celebrations." The event has a Facebook page (from which the above photo, which features the Polish Heritage Dancers of Western New York), here. (On a smaller scale, Lebowski's in Dilworth does an annual Dyngus Day, with Polish offerings.)

Chef Vivian Howard of Kinston's The Chef & the Farmer restaurant has won a Peabody for her show; food editor Kathleen Purvis has more here.

Pizza: Is the boom over? Time thinks maybe it is.

The New York Times ponders how restaurants can be political flash points here, including a restaurateur in Clemson who posted a sign saying "If you are such a loser that you feel a need to carry a gun with you when you go out, I do not want your business." (He, in turn, is pondering whether he should have just used an official state sign instead -- and the story notes his Yelp star rating went from four to one.) Sean Brock, a high-profile chef in Charleston (McCrady's, Husk) tells the Times: "People are really looking to you for answers and guidance and your opinion on things... Twenty or 30 years ago you were just a guy who made eggs Benedict.”