When Matt Martin arrived in Charlotte in 2013, he had a specific plan in mind. He approached his new job at Fern, Flavors of the Garden as a stepping stone. Two years later, instead of simply adding a vegetarian notch to his chef belt, he has embraced this career path fully, remaining at Fern, now as Executive Chef, at the ripe old age of 25.
Chef Paul Verica frequently sports a Philadelphia Eagles ballcap that proclaims both his origins and one of his non-food obsessions. When it comes to his work, he has a humble streak a mile wide. “It’s the farmers,” he says, when asked what makes the North Carolina Piedmont region worthy of his talents. “Everything we do is first and foremost driven by the ingredients.”
It’s hard to fit Megan Lambert neatly into a category. Senior Instructor at Johnson & Wales, Pastry Chef, Nutritionist, volunteer, small business owner. Yet these titles all emerged from an early drive to share good, healthy food.
Seated at the cool stone bar of The Punch Room on the 15th floor of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, chef Matt Carnevale is the picture of restrained chaos. Boyish in both bearing and appearance, the 31-year old’s apparent youth is belied by the strength of his passion and the diversity of his influences.