Chef Profile:
James Rivenbark, Jr.
Southbeach Grill
He began 10 years ago as a 13-year-old dishwasher, in a kitchen under a worker’s permit. Now, James Rivenbark Jr. (more commonly referred to in the kitchen as “Chef Firetruck”) has refined his flair from sudsy plate-shiner to masterful culinary creator.
Rivenbark leads a professional staff and provides an appetite-quenching menu at South Beach Grill, located at 100 S. Lumina Avenue at Wrightsville Beach. A graduate of Johnson & Wales University, AS Culinary Arts, Rivenbark took over the reigns in the kitchen in late July of 2008. In preparation for his third Wilmington Restaurant Week, we asked the chef to identify some key issues about his career, his staff and what his restaurant brings to the Port City’s culinary scene.
encore: What have you learned to be the most important trait and/or skill to have in the kitchen?
Chef James Rivenbark: Listening, communicating and staying calm under pressure would define any great line cook.
e: What has been your most amazing day as a chef?
CJR: I have an amazing day once a summer at South Beach Grill, when all my new employees begin to work as a team, in our small kitchen. Dare I say, we become a family. It’s at that point where I see my job become a little easier, and it brings out the adrenaline rush I wait for every time I walk on line with my crew.
e: Do you have a signature dish?
JCR: The sweet potato-crusted flounder, served with a lemon thyme honey sauce.
e: What can diners expect of your menu during Wilmington Restaurant Week, fall 2010?
JCR: I feel that the menu should please anyone’s taste. It’s the overall dining experience at South Beach Grill that I look forward to our guest having. Great food, great service and a fun night out are what restaurant week is all about.
e: What do you love most about Wilmington’s culinary scene? And if you had a magic wand to wave for improvement, what would be the first order of business?
JCR: I would have to say growing up here, it’s the relationship I have developed with other chefs that share the same passion for our local ingredients that I do. My magic wand and I would fix people’s eating habits. Let’s face it: We get in eating ruts, dining at the same places over and over. I say, “Alakazaam!”—go try somewhere new every now and again, but don’t forget your old faithful.
e: Your favorite meal?
JCR: Hamburger steak, caramelized onions and gravy over mashed potatoes. I have found that as a chef, it’s the home cooking as a child I miss the most.
e: Your favorite guilty pleasure…
JCR: General Tso’s chicken—or pizza and hot wings.
View the Southbeach Grill Restaurant Week Menu [more]
