Ricky Moore is an American chef who owns Saltbox Seafood Joint in

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

. He won the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Southeast in 2022

Early life, education, and military service

Ricky Moore was born at

Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point or MCAS Cherry Point (*) is a United States Marine Corps airfield located in Havelock, North Carolina, United States, in the eastern part of the state. It was built in 1941, and was commissioned in 1942 and ...

, and by the age of seven had lived in Germany, Kentucky, and Texas because of his father's military career. Moore was exposed to German cooking when he lived in Europe. Growing up in New Bern, he fished and crabbed, and wanted to become an artist. In high school, a home economics class helped from discover his passion for cooking. Moore graduated from New Bern High School in 1987, then enlisted in the military at the age of 18. He was initially a paratrooper and later served as a cook in the United States Army. After seven years in the army, he graduated from The Culinary Institute of America in 1994.

Career

Following his culinary education, Moore interned and worked in commercial kitchens in Asia (Singapore), Europe, the Middle East, and North America. Restaurants have included Charlie Trotter's, Equinox and Frontera Grill, IndeBleu, Le Tarbouche, Lespinasse, Tru (Chicago), and Vidalia. In France, Moore worked at Apicius with Jean-Pierre Vigato and Le Violin d'Ingres with

Christian Constant Christian Constant (born 18 May 1950) is a French chef and entrepreneur. Early life and career Christian Constant was born in Montauban, Tarn-et-Garonne in the region of Midi-Pyrénées. He began his career as a chef in 1988 at the Hôtel Cr ...

in Paris, as well as Le Cerf with Michel Husser in Alsace. He also worked Cuisine of India with Shishir Sharma in Toronto. In New York, he interned at

Daniel Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength" ...

in Manhattan and the Westchester Country Club in the Hudson Valley. In North Carolina, he worked at Glasshalfull in Carrboro and was the first executive chef at Giorgio's in Cary. Moore has been an instructor at the Washburne Culinary Institute's Parrot Cage Restaurant and executive chef of Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants' South Water Kitchen. He was executive chef of Agraia in Washington, D.C., as of 2007. Moore competed against Michael Symon on ''

Iron Chef America ''Iron Chef America'' is an American cooking show based on Fuji Television's ''Iron Chef'', and is the second American adaptation of the series, following the failed ''Iron Chef USA'' that aired in 2001. The show is produced by Food Network, whi ...

'', and has been featured in the magazines '' Garden & Gun'', '' Our State'', and ''

Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Co. (formerly Wyndham Destinations, Inc. and Wyndham Worldwide Corporation) is an American timeshare company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. It develops, sells, and manages timeshare properties under several vacation ownershi ...

''. He is the owner of Saltbox Seafood Joint, which originally opened in

in 2012. Moore published his first

cookbook A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (appetizer, first cour ...

(''Saltbox Seafood Joint Cookbook'') in 2019. According to Tina Adkins of the '' Sun Journal'', the book has 60 recipes "celebrating his coastal culinary heritage". He also filmed the documentary miniseries ''The Hook'' for the public broadcasting network PBS North Carolina. Moore was named a "local food champion" by the North Carolina Local Food Council in 2019. In 2020, he was a James Beard Foundation Award semi-finalist in the Best Chef: Southeast category. He also received $25,000 as part of the foundation's '#EatItForward' campaign for Black-owned restaurateurs. Moore won the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Southeast in 2022. Additionally, he has been named "Best Chef in the Triangle" by ''

Indy Week ''Indy Week'', formerly known as the ''Independent Weekly'' and originally the ''North Carolina Independent'', is a tabloid-format alternative weekly newspaper published in Durham, North Carolina, United States, and distributed throughout the Res ...

''.

Personal life

Moore and his wife Norma have been married for 30 years and live in

Chapel Hill Chapel Hill or Chapelhill may refer to: Places Antarctica *Chapel Hill (Antarctica) Australia * Chapel Hill, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane * Chapel Hill, South Australia, in the Mount Barker council area Canada *Chapel Hill, Ottawa, a neighbo ...

, as of 2022. The couple met while Moore was stationed in Hawaii, and have two children (daughter Hunter and son Greyson). Moore displays a collection of filet knives from around the world in his kitchen.

Publications

References

External links