Chefs of the Coast: Restaurants & Recipes from the North Carolina Coast

In Chefs of the Coast, restaurant reviewer and food critic John Batchelor profiles 50 well-established and up-and-coming chefs from the region. Drawing from personal interviews, Batchelor reveals each chef’s cooking philosophy, influences, and personality. Each profile also includes:

* A description of the restaurant, its ambience, and sample menu items * Color photographs of the chef, restaurant, and food * Recipes from each chef

Sidebars throughout the book offer information about farms (mostly organic) that sell vegetables and meats to the public as well as to restaurants, unique producers from the region, and stories of a number of people who gave up successful careers in order to return to the land. Batchelor has written about restaurants and travel since 1981. He is the restaurant reviewer for the Greensboro News & Record and formerly for the Winston-Salem Journal. Batchelor came across the idea for this book through his frequent judging of cooking competitions, including the Western North Carolina Chef’s Challenge (restaurants compete in and around Asheville, N.C.) and the Fire on the Rock Chef’s Challenge (restaurants in and around Blowing Rock and the High Country).