Talent

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Chef Bruce Moffett

After a brief career in politics, Chef Bruce Moffett chased a dream of a culinary career straight to the halls of the Culinary Institute of America. Graduating with honors, he then traveled to Atlanta and Boston, with stints in the kitchen at two of the latter city’s most prestigious restaurants, L’Espalier and Metropolis Café. It was his move to Charlotte, however, that his career as a restaurateur truly began. His first restaurant in the Queen City, Barrington’s, was named for the Rhode Island town where he grew up and quickly garnered acclaim including recognition as a James Beard Foundation Best Chef Southeast Nominee in 2009. That same year, he would launch Good Food on Montford, the first in what would become an epicurean empire. In 2013, he launched both Moffett Restaurant Group and his third restaurant, Stagioni, with NC Red and Bao + Broth joining the group in the last few years.

Chef Bruce Moffett

Chef Sean Carroll

After working at Blue Talon Bistro and Fat Canary in his home state of Virginia, Sean Carroll pursued a formal education at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Atlanta. He went on to work at restaurants in Atlanta and Augusta, Georgia, and later served as sous chef at The Inn on Biltmore Estate in Asheville and executive chef of an Italian restaurant in Williamsburg. His career eventually took him to Hilton Head Island where he landed positions as chef de cuisine at Alexander’s Restaurant & Wine Bar and resort executive chef of Palmetto Dunes before taking the top post at Links, an American Grill.

Chef Sean Carroll

Chef Kevin Keogh

Chef de cuisine of The Sea Pines Resort’s Coast, Oceanfront Dining, Kevin Keogh is a self-taught chef who launched his culinary career as an apprentice at the iconic Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles. Originally from South Florida, he has worked in restaurants across the United States, from San Francisco to New Orleans to Boca Raton, as well as in London where he redesigned an American-style menu for the Big Easy Crab Shack. Before joining The Sea Pines Resort in February 2020, Chef Keogh served as chef de cuisine at The Club at Admirals Cove in Jupiter, Florida. As head of the Coast kitchen, he has helped develop a menu featuring simple, fresh dishes that allow the food to speak for itself.

Chef Kevin Keogh

Chef Ryan Moore

Ryan Moore, sous chef at Fraser's Tavern, is a self-taught chef originally from Birmingham, Alabama. He joined The Sea Pines Resort after 14 years honing his cooking chops in  Jacksonville, Florida. Ryan is passionate about locally sourced, Southern-influenced cuisine, with a special appreciation for the history of our local foodways.

Chef Ryan Moore

Chef Nick Leahy

Raised near Provence, where the legendary flavors of France sit at culinary crossroads with Italian, Spanish and North African cuisine, Chef Nick Leahy’s appreciation for cultural nuances in cooking began at an early age. His pursuit of these flavors brough him from France to Bermuda to London and finally to Atlanta. Here he honed his craft in the kitchens Concentric Restaurants and Fifth Group Restaurants concepts before opening Saltyard in Buckhead, Provencal-style restaurant, AIX, and adjoining wine bar, Tin Tin, in Atlanta's West Midtown. In the last few years, his passions have pivoted away from fine dining and toward approachable broad-appeal concepts like Nick’s Westisde in the former AIX and Tin Tin Spot, as well as delivery-only Chicken Out. An avid philanthropist, Leahy supports Georgia Grown, No Kid Hungry, The James Beard Foundation, The Giving Kitchen and was the first chef ever to be elected to Meals on Wheels Atlanta's Board of Trustees.

Chef Nick Leahy

Chef Joe Truex

A highly credentialed chef with vast experience at top restaurants in Switzerland, New York and Atlanta, Joe Truex currently serves as executive chef of Pursell Farms, a 3,200-acre resort located in the foothills of Alabama. The Louisiana native studied at The Culinary Institute of America in New York and trained under Chef Daniel Boulud at NYC’s Le Cirque, landing the role of chef de partie at the Swisssotel Le Plaza in Basel, Switzerland, upon his graduation.

He returned to New York to work at The Peninsula Hotel, later opening The Brooklyn Diner and The Redeye Grill and taking the post of executive chef at The Cambridge Hotel in Cambridge, Massachusetts. But it was the 2006 opening of his Atlanta restaurant, Repast, that catapulted him to the national culinary stage. Esquire Magazine named it one of the Best New Restaurants in America, garnering Truex an invitation from Martha Stewart to cook on her television show.

Chef Joe Truex

Chef Aaron Cox

Aaron Cox, Chef de Cuisine at Coast, Oceanfront Dining, attributes his five-star cooking expertise to his robust career experience working at a variety of elite venues, where he developed unique menus with his signature approach to light-yet-bold, natural flavors by using only the freshest local and sustainable ingredients. As an apprentice, Chef Aaron trained from 1987 to 1989 under Certified Master Chef Hartmut Handke while attending The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, W.V.

Among his résumé highlights: Grand Teton Lodge Company in Wyoming; Harborview Hilton in Charleston S.C.; Amelia Island Plantation in Florida; ClubCorp-owned University Center Club at Florida State University, where he served as Executive Chef and Adjunct Professor of hospitality; Michael Jordan's Steakhouse at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, N.C.; and Westin Charlotte Hotel's JP Charlotte, where he also served as Executive Chef.

Chef Aaron Cox

Chef Bryan Lee

Chef Bryan Lee is a native of Sacramento, California and now serves as a sous chef at Coast Oceanfront Dining at The Sea Pines Beach Club. Lee has lived in Japan leading up to his culinary career by attending the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago. Upon graduating he worked at multiple restaurants in the Chicago area as well as Spot Gastropub in Los Angeles and The English Grille inside the Brown Hotel in Louisville, KY. Lee’s culinary heroes are both of his grandmothers, Emma Fountaine and Jewel Lee, who inspired his career. When he’s not in the kitchen, chef enjoys quality time with his family, golfing, fishing, and traveling.

Chef Bryan Lee

Chef Iain Jones

Before beginning his storied culinary career, executive pastry chef Iain Jones started out washing dishes in a restaurant while seeking jobs in the engineering field. Instead, he found himself drawn to the art and science of making bread. His curiosity and talent led to a distinguished culinary career, serving as assistant pastry chef at The Inn on Biltmore, then pastry chef at Horizon’s inside The Grove Park Inn, Isa’s Bistro in Asheville and at the famed five-star, five-diamond The Inn at Little Washington.  There, under culinary pioneer Patrick O’Connell, Jones elevated the pastry program at a restaurant that would become one of only 14 nationwide to earn a third Michelin star. 

Chef Iain Jones