Southern Cast Iron – September 2019

SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2019 12

STOKE

100 WEST TRADE STREET

CHARLOTTE, NC 28202

STOKECHARLOTTE.COM

“It was like a chaotic ballet,” he remembers. “It was high speed,
there was sweat everywhere, and guys were really just working

hard to push out food as fast as they could, but in a very organized,

structured way. That’s where I really fell in love with the kitchen.”

After high school, Chris began art school studying ceramics.

But soon, with an uncertain vision of a future career in the fi eld,
he turned his focus on a diff erent art form: cooking. Chris began

culinary school, and during his second semester, the 19-year-old

landed a job as chef ’s assistant at a spot in Charlotte called McNinch

House Restaurant. With just 25 seats, dinner service only, and
mandatory reservations, the superfi ne dining spot was intimate and

allowed Chris the opportunity to learn. Soon, at only 21, the new

culinary school graduate was named executive chef.

During his eight-year tenure, Chris spent time developing his
craft and fi guring out the kind of chef he wanted to be. While still

at McNinch House, he created a quarterly dinner series called The

Market Kitchen where he was able to spread his wings.

“It was a bit more free-form and wasn’t so serious or fi ne dining,”
Chris says. “It let me explore the ingredients of the Piedmont region.

The idea behind it was to use only local ingredients (within 150 miles

of the restaurant) and use techniques and cooking styles that I

had read about but never used.”

Press from the dinner series brought him a growing

reputation and a new job opportunity. In 2014, Chris opened

The Asbury, a 40- seat farm-to-table restaurant inside a small

boutique hotel called The Dunhill. In 2016, he took his culinary

talents to the Marriott City Center where he was named director

of culinary experience.

“At the time, they were opening up a few diff erent outlets,

looking to revitalize their food and beverage program,” Chris says.

“But this was going to be the beta property for all Marriotts. We

were going to be able to test and try things that could potentially

go nationwide. This was my opportunity to be part of something

bigger than myself and something that could change the way one

of the largest hoteliers in the world thought about food.”

At Stoke, Marriott’s fl agship restaurant and Chris’s current

post, he uses the same ideas from The Market Kitchen dinner

series as far as locality and seasonality, but strips back the

pretense to let his true cooking style—slightly elevated comfort

food—shine.