McNinch House hires two new chefs — what that means for the classic Charlotte spot.
Two new chefs are taking charge of the kitchen at the McNinch House Restaurant, but you can still expect to see your favorite dishes and locally grown ingredients on the menu — just with a few new twists.
Executive chef Samuel Jijon and sous chef Taylor Foltz are now cranking out Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes and Veal Tenderloin at the restaurant owned by Ellen Davis, a mostly self-taught chef with a history of mentoring others at the fine dining restaurant in Charlotte’s historic Fourth Ward. She lives upstairs and keeps a culinary garden out back.
While Jijon plans to put his own touch on the menu, he’ll also keep menu favorites such as the Rosemary & Dijon Crusted Rack of New Zealand Lamb. He got his start at 15, when he spent a summer working in his uncle’s Mexican restaurant in Waukegan, Illinois and “fell in love with food, cooking and competitions.”
He graduated from A.L. Brown High School in Kannapolis in 2018 and was enrolled at Johnson & Wales University until COVID-19 interrupted his education. In just a few short years, he has worked as a culinary intern at The Crunkleton, catering chef for Roots Catering & Cafe, sous chef for Streamline Kitchen food truck and culinary lead at Carowinds.
He’s also competed in both local and national food competitions, including Culinary Fight Club, The Perfect Bite and Sip 2019, and he was a silver medalist at the SkillsUSA National Skills Conference in 2019.
Foltz, the sous chef, grew up in West Virginia watching his grandmother and mother cook. He moved to Charlotte in 2018 to attend Johnson & Wales University, where he has an associate’s degree and continues to work on his bachelor’s degree. He has also worked a line cook at YAFO Kitchen, Augusta National Golf Club, Olde Sycamore Golf Plantation and other restaurants.
Reservations are suggested at the restaurant, where the menu is subject to change.
McNinch House Restaurant
511 N. Church St.
Instagram: @mcninch_house_restaurant
