Brandon Buck

Years of Participation

Buck grew up on a farm in a small town outside of Columbia, SC, where he spent countless hours in the kitchen with his family. While he earned a degree after high school, it was not in the culinary arts - those skills, he says, he honed "by working in the kitchen trenches."
After a move to Charleston in 1999, he landed the Executive Sous Chef position at then-brand new Cypress at 167 East Bay Street, where he worked for six years. He went on to spend nine years as Executive Chef of Middleton Place, where he worked with then Director of Food Services, Micah Garrison, and the owners to start a small "production garden," supplying the restaurant with a variety of heirloom produce. After a four-year stint working under Consulting Chef Tom Colicchio at Kiawah Island's Voysey's, he returned to Middleton Place.
Chef Buck was paired with Fleet Landing's Chef Drew Hedlund for the Southern Living Taste of Charleston's Annual Iron Chef Competition in 2013. With dishes like Carolina Gold-Encrusted Oyster with Leek Fondue and Bourbon Rice Pudding, the team took home a win, and a long-term friendship was formed. In late 2017, he was asked to join Hedlund and the RockIt Hospitality team to help them open the newly-minted Tradd's, where he became Executive Chef in 2019.
Fun fact: Buck was one of the first certified mushroom foragers in the state of South Carolina, not that he'll share any of his secret spots with you!