From the helm of one of Charleston’s most storied kitchens, Michelle Weaver has created a culinary legacy.

As Executive Chef of Charleston Grill, Weaver’s culinary aesthetic courses through a menu offering four themed options, each one like a tributary beckoning diners to branch out toward new exploits: Cosmopolitan, Southern, Pure and Lush. Stick with a single direction or meander from one taste experience to the other – either way, you’re in for an elegant, unforgettable dining adventure.

Chef Weaver’s distinctive approach to food was built upon a convergence of pathways taken as she navigated her way to executive chef-hood. A native of Decatur, Alabama, she was raised on the iron-skillet Southern cooking of her mother and, as an adult, mentored by Chef Bob Waggoner during his time in Nashville. Weaver followed him to Charleston Grill in 1997, where she assisted in the kitchen for 11 years, learning the nuances of French-influenced cuisine while developing a love for Lowcountry ingredients. When Waggoner left to pursue other opportunities in 2009, she assumed the position of executive chef.

Weaver, who has been working in some capacity in food and beverage since I was 18, did not realize this was what she wanted until a friend came home from the Culinary Institute of America and opened a restaurant, that she realized she could go to school and pursue a career.

So, she packed up her red Chevalier and moved to Vermont to go to the New England Culinary Institute.

Sourcing from local farmers and anglers, her dishes also include some of the richest and highest quality ingredients from around the world. After 16 years at the restaurant, and five years as Executive Chef, she continued to carve out a lasting legacy while developing the reputation of culinary excellence at Charleston Grill before leaving in August 2024 to see what is next.