Born in Asheville, NC and raised in the backroads of Kentucky’s farmland, it was only natural that he follow the winding contours of the terrain from Field to Fork. Beginning at his parents’ farm in Mason County where he attended high school, his path led to Providence, RI where he graduated from Johnson & Wales with a degree in Food & Beverage Management. From there, he honed his skills at the Maisonette, a restaurant with the longest running streak of five-star awards from the Mobil Travel Guide.
With an accumulated 30 years of experience in the food and beverage industry, he helped open more than a dozen concept restaurants and collaborated on countless side projects, including working with Woodlands Pork and Black Oak Holler Farm. It was in these wooded mountains of West Virginia where he got a taste for carving up perfect, porcine samples of woodlands mast finished hogs nearly 15 years ago.
These days, when not ensconced in with his kids’ sports activities, he spends his time working with schools to improve the quality and nutrition of meals being served, keeping the vinegar bubbling, giving new life to food waste, and continuing to spread the good food gospel to those that like to eat.
Music by Ike Wilhelm.