Serving next-level, nontraditional ramen and other Japanese- and Korean-inspired dishes cooked over binchōtan charcoal grills, Chef/Owner Jeffrey Stoneberger introduced 2Nixons to Charleston, S.C., in 2015. He draws from a childhood anchored in the crab culture of the Mid-Atlantic and a professional pedigree that includes experience working in some of the country's most lauded kitchens. His unvarying interest in exploring the depth, comfort, and grace of Asian flavor profiles guides him in his first solo restaurant project. “At 2Nixons, we embrace the idea that a restaurant can be both fine dining and casual at the same time,” he explains. “That experience is what we want to create at every 2Nixons popup. You might be coming to a brewery to visit us, but we’re going to serve you something you’ve never had at a brewery before.”
To accomplish that juxtaposition, Stoneberger starts with the high-quality ingredients one would expect to find at a white-tablecloth restaurant—Watson Farm eggs with brilliant marigold yolks, Sun Noodles (same "best artisan ramen" that David Chang, Ivan Orkin, and others rave about). From those products, he creates dishes like Brown Butter and Blue Crab Ramen and Grilled Meyer Lemon Shio Ramen with accouterments like sous vide egg topped with furikake, soy-pickled wood ear mushrooms, and cucumber and fermented carrots in Bulls Bay Saltworks seawater, always with a heaping of super-thinly sliced scallions; Scrapple Yakitori glazed in Korean barbecue sauce while crisping up on the bincho and finished with a house hot sauce evocative of Sriracha; and Bipimbap, featuring grilled pork , housemade young and acid kimchi, and sweet sauce-marinated eggplant over Californian Koshihikari short-grain rice. “Japanese food, and ramen especially gives the flavors in my head an outlet to transpose them directly to someone without being pretentious in any manner,” Stoneberger says. “It’s a vehicle for comfort food we can all recognize and identify with.”
A native of Fenwick Island, Del., Stoneberger enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY, to pursue a culinary career. He decided to leave before graduation after receiving an invitation from Chef Heston Blumenthal to join the team at The Fat Duck in Bray, UK; working at one of the world’s best restaurants laid the foundation for Stoneberger’s experimental nature with food. In 2011, after sous chef positions at top restaurants on both coasts—including working on Chef Sean Brock’s team at McCrady’s in Charleston when the restaurant received its first New York Times review—Stoneberger assumed the forager position with Chef Josh Skenes of three Michelin-star Saison in San Francisco. He returned to the East Coast to assist Celebrity Chef Bryan Voltaggio with writing a cookbook, running kitchen R&D, and serving as opening chef de cuisine at AGGIO in D.C. In Charleston, his roles prior to 2Nixons included chef de cuisine at Two Boroughs Larder & pastry chef for Butcher & Bee and the Daily.
Stoneberger pops up with 2Nixons Friday’s & Saturday’s at local famed cocktail bar Proof.

Outside the kitchen Stoneberger stays centered raising his two kids as a full-time single dad. Always candid and passionately outspoken, Stoneberger is a chef's chef and prolific on social media, tweeting at @eatmecookme and on Instagram at @eatmecookme.