Wilmington: Meet the Locals

Discover more on Wilmington. North Carolina
Wilmington City Portrait
Where to Eat and Drink
What to See and Do
 

Keith Rhodes
Growing up around the farms and waterways on Wilmington’s outskirts, Keith Rhodes was living “farm to table” long before it was a restaurant industry tagline. “My granddad would come home with peach baskets loaded with tomatoes, cucumbers, and lots of fish,” Rhodes says of the talented cook who inspired him to become a chef. You may recognize him from this past season of Bravo’s Top Chef, but the James Beard Award semifinalist is best known locally for his seafood restaurant Catch and his newest eatery, Phun Seafood Bar. “I love the community here in Wilmington,” says Rhodes, who has become something of an ambassador for the local culinary scene. “In these times of Targets and Walmarts, the distinction of community is being lost, but I’m working hard to preserve our local food and building upon that.”

Will Allison

No one spends more time in and around Wilmington’s waters than Will Allison. He surfed his first wave at thirteen in the rollers off Wrightsville Beach (“I was totally consumed and never looked back,” he says) and went on to become a highly decorated competitor, with twelve East Coast surfing titles and two United States Surfing Championships to his name. These days this Southern gentleman surfer is making waves with his handcrafted surfboards, functional works of art that are as fun to ride as they are to look at. At sixty-one years old, Allison still surfs most every day, when he’s not clamming or picking oysters in the local marshes. “I just love being in the water here,” he says. “It’s like my briar patch.”