Spicewalla Partners With Top Chef Finalist Shuai Wang on New Spice Blends

Chef Shuai Wang and his wife Corrie had wanted to put their flavors in a jar for years. The right partner, it turned out, was already a friend.

Wang, runner-up on Bravo's Top Chef Season 22, released two signature spice blends with Asheville-founded Spicewalla in early March 2026: Dry Chilli Crunch and Sichuan Hot Chicken Spice, priced at $11.99 each. The collaboration grew out of a long friendship with Spicewalla co-founders Meherwan and Molly Irani, who lead the Chai Pani Restaurant Group behind the James Beard Award-winning restaurants Chai Pani and Botiwalla.

"I immediately thought about Spicewalla, Meherwan and Molly because they have some of the freshest spices as a spice company," Wang said. "It's kind of a perfect pair."

Wang brought the blends directly from his culinary world in North Charleston, where he operates Jackrabbit Filly and KING BBQ. The Dry Chilli Crunch is designed to travel broadly across a plate: Wang recommends it on pizza, dumplings, noodles, fried rice and fried chicken, or stirred into local honey or Duke's mayo for fries, chicken fingers and burgers. For those who pick up both tins, there's a hidden recipe waiting: mix the Dry Chilli Crunch with the Sichuan Hot Chicken Spice and the result is Mapo Tofu, the dish Wang and Corrie ate on their first date.

The release lands just ahead of the Top Chef Season 23 premiere, which was filmed primarily in Charlotte with stops in Greenville, South Carolina. Spicewalla, which operates its retail shop inside Asheville's Grove Arcade at 1 Page Ave., is billed as the official spice company for Top Chef: Carolinas. Wang declined to confirm whether he'll appear in Season 23, saying only, "You'll just have to watch and see."

His reflection on Season 22 was more open. "It pushed me further forward and reopened my imagination and creativity, and I came out of it a million times more inspired," he said.

Both blends are available in person at the Grove Arcade store and for nationwide shipping through spicewallabrand.com. Customers in North Charleston can also pick them up at Jackrabbit Filly and KING BBQ.