Bill Smith

Bill Smith is the author of two cookbooks and many articles and essays in various magazines and journals. In 2019, he retired after twenty-five years as head chef at Crook’s Corner Restaurant in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He has received nominations several times from the James Beard Foundation for Best Chef Southeast and served for six years on the board of the Southern Foodways Alliance. In 2021, he received the Craig Claiborne Lifetime Achievement Award from that organization.

Ten Things I Can’t Do Without 

1. My kitchen staff
2. Cold beer
3. Oysters
4. Mexico
5. Music from the Maghreb and the Sahel
6. The Outer Banks
7. The Cat’s Cradle
8. Uni
9. Corned hams
10. Friends