Chef Craig Deihl brings his talents and seasoned leadership to Hello, Sailor as Chef de Cuisine, working hand in hand with Chef Joe Kindred to oversee the program together. Prior to moving up to North Carolina to work at the lakeside restaurant, Chef Craig was the Executive Chef of Cypress and Artisan Meat Share in Charleston, South Carolina. As one of the South’s most exciting and talented young chefs, Deihl was a James Beard Foundation nominee for Best Chef: Southeast in both 2010 and 2011 and was named Chef of the Year by the Charleston chapter of the American Culinary Foundation in 2011. 

Two-time James Beard Foundation finalist for Best Chef: South, Bravo TV’s “Top Chef” season 13 “Fan Favorite,” and author of The New York Times’ “Best Cookbooks of Fall 2018,” Chasing the Gator – Isaac Toups & the New Cajun Cooking, Chef Isaac Toups exemplifies the new guard of Cajun chefs and is Chef/Owner of Toups Meatery and Toups South in New Orleans. Born and raised in Rayne, Louisiana—the heart of Cajun country—Toups is known for his “born and braised” culinary style. His unique combination of childhood roots, heavily influenced by both grandmothers, along with honing his skills in some of New Orleans’ most acclaimed restaurants—including a decade of fine dining experience in Emeril Lagasse’s New Orleans kitchens—gives Chef Isaac Toups a cutting-edge that is unrivaled.

Whitney Otawka is a chef, writer, and author of The Saltwater Table: Recipes from the Coastal South. She lives on the wild and sparsely inhabited Cumberland Island, Georgia where she runs the kitchen of Greyfield Inn with Chef Ben Wheatley. Whitney is originally from a small town in the Mojave Desert, and has spent time working with acclaimed Southern Chefs Hugh Acheson and Linton Hopkins She’s appeared on Bravo’s Top Chef, and was also named one of Star Chefs’ Rising Star Chefs.

---