At a young age I fell in love with cooking. I am not sure what really drove my interest initially, but I knew it was much more than simply sitting down to eat. It’s about discovery, laughter, and simply enjoying company the way we should never neglect.

Before I dive into my passion for cooking however and my path to Greenville, I would like to introduce us.

Miss Abigail (Abi) is my little sidekick superhero of a daughter. Full of spunk, whit, and who possesses an amazing eagerness to be kind, and to learn. Truly a top-notch kiddo. She’s a big time up and coming fourth grader or should I say 10-year-old. I am an Army Brat, who turned my daughter into a Marine Brat. Service runs in my family and is rooted deep in my family’s heritage. I served myself immediately after college as a Marine Officer of many trades and found myself truly humbled and proud to serve our country.

When I left the Corps, I entered the business sector here in Eastern North Carolina and was able to work with some amazing teams along the way. When I found myself working too much, I decided it was time to simply focus on being a dad. Time just goes by too fast not to spend it living and loving those around you.

Food Profession:  

Working my way through College, I found myself in a top-notch restaurant in North Georgia…. Dahlonega to be exact. When I wasn’t cooking, I was fly fishing with my brothers, or simply doing some of the most ridiculous feats known to man. I am certain we are all sworn to secrecy. 

As it goes, I was listening to some local music over a pint of Guinness, and I met a man who said he needed an Expediter in his restaurant. From there, the kitchen ran short on a Friday night, and I had to jump on the line. The next day I was a Sous Chef.

Over time I fell deeper and deeper in love with the culinary profession, and eventually decided to exit Academia and enter the professional culinary world.

Upon chance, I was traveling back home from Christmas and the woman next to me asked if I was going to be a Chef. I of course said Yes Ma’am, that’s the plan. We chatted a bit as she asked the typical questions surrounding a culinary professional, but she had one question that stuck with me. Why do you love to cook so much?  I simply said because it makes people happy, and if I can play a small part in enhancing their happiness with my passion for cooking, then I call that a “Big Win”.  

This woman then said to me Well, I guess I should introduce you to my husband, his name is Renee Weber. Talk about God’s Will and being in the right place at the right time. He happened to be the author of the book I was reading. This led to an amazing experience cooking under him at the Georgian Terrace. Truly a world class chef.

Fast forward a bit to 9/11 and I decided that I was needed elsewhere in the world, so my culinary profession was put on hold but my Passion Was Not…