in the beginning

So where does a good Southern boy go to summer camp? Cooperstown NY, of course. No, not a baseball prodigy.I was scared of the ball. Beaver Cross was an Episcopal church camp run by the diocese of Albany that is within driving distance of my Oma's summer house in the Adirondacks where we would spend the summer. As I left the Outback with little ambitions for the summer I contacted Deacon Betty and she hired me as kitchen help for the summer. I got room and board, some scratch at the end of the summer, and got to be STAFF at the camp I went to as a kid. What else is there in life?

How did you get into cooking?

It sll started for a zitty teenager bussing tables at the hottest table in Charlotte NC in 1991, Outback Steakhouse. The Outback had just opened in what was to become a hip strip of cool small business and culture in this new money city. This is 91 though in the new South. Australian steakhouse with big oil cans of beer and you have ALL the Nascar races live? Two hour waits.  »read more

In opening this restaurant I have been very fortunate to be out in the hands of many other interesting Boston businesses. Local and sustainable is a lifestyle, not a fad. Where we spend our money, especially as a business, makes a big difference in the greater picture and when working with good business people, saves one money. Paying significantly more for local businesses versus the competition is debatable but I see it as charity, and in that category Partners in Health does more good then any business could ever do. if you don't know about them you should.