The 10 Chefs From Arkansas You Should Know

One of Arkansas’ most recognized chefs, Todd Gold is a three-time winner of the American Culinary Federation Central Arkansas Chapter’s Chef of the Year Award and in 2008, was inducted into the American Academy of Chefs, placing him firmly amongst the South’s top culinary stars. From his humble beginnings as a dishwasher at a local Italian restaurant, Gold went on to graduate from Memphis’ La Maison Meridian and rose to the top of Little Rock’s dining scene working as executive chef at local several hotels and country clubs. Today, Gold is the dean at Pulaski Technical College Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management Institute inspiring the next generation of Arkansas chefs.

Donnie Ferneau, the former owner and executive chef of Little Rock’s Rocket 21, kick started his culinary career apprenticing at various restaurants throughout the Midwest before settling in Arkansas and making a name for himself as one of the state’s top chefs. In 2008, Ferneau battled against Arkansas-based French Chef Andre Poirot to win the Diamond Chef Arkansas competition and in 2014 opened Good Food by Ferneau, a restaurant located in Little Rock’s lovely Argenta neighborhood that specializes in healthy, organic alternative to typically butter-heavy, fried Southern fare and focuses on sustainable, locally sourced ingredients.

Chef Justin Patterson, a graduate of The International Culinary School at The Art Institute of Tennessee, gained experience working in some of Nashville’s finest restaurants and at Little Rock’s Pleasant Valley Country Club before deciding to go it alone in 2012 when he established The Southern Gourmasian, a gourmet food truck fusing Southern comfort food with Asian street fare into what Patterson calls ‘Arkasian fusion’. Recently, The Southern Gourmasian launched as a bricks and mortar restaurant in downtown Little Rock to rave reviews, while Patterson also competed in the final stages of the 2015 Diamond Chef Arkansas contest.

Coming from a foodie family (her mother and grandmother were professional chefs and her parents ran a restaurant) it is perhaps no surprise that Angela Nardi would become a chef herself. A native of Hot Springs, Nardi is currently setting the spa city’s dining scene ablaze in her role as head chef at the Superior Bathhouse Brewery and Distillery where she crafts unique seasonal dishes from produce grown by local farmers and artisans. Her eclectic Arkansas-inspired pub fare includes Southern black eyed pea hummus and beer bratwurst made with local pork.

A graduate of New York’s prestigious Culinary Institute of America, chef Brian Deloney honed his craft working as executive sous chef for famed American chef Emeril Lagasse’s NOLA in New Orleans’ French Quarter and Delmonico Steakhouse in Las Vegas. In 2007, Deloney returned to his hometown, Little Rock, where he helped with the re-opening of the historic Capital Hotel before setting up his own restaurant, Maddie’s Place, in 2009. Drawing on his time in Louisiana, Deloney packs Maddie’s menu full of New Orleans-inspired upscale comfort food like Creole-seasoned pork skins and seared redfish with garlic grits.

An Arkansas native, chef Stephen Burrow graduated from Le Cordon Bleu in Austin, Texas, before returning to his homeland to take up the role of head chef at the Clinton Presidential Center’s onsite restaurant, Forty-Two, in 2009. Inspired by farm-to-table fare, Burrow looks to local farms and the Center’s own herb and vegetable garden in crafting his recipes and applies what he calls a ‘contemporary Southern colonial’ approach to Forty-Two’s menu. When he isn’t cooking up a storm at Forty-Two, Burrow can be found taking part in the restaurant’s Student Chef Series, which educates local schoolchildren on subjects including healthy eating and urban farming.