Robert Stehling
Years of Participation
2006-2018, 2025
Celebrated southern chef Robert Stehling founded and owned/operated the iconic Hominy Grill in Charleston, SC for more than two decades before closing in 2019.
A native North Carolinian, Stehling began cooking at Crook’s Corner in Chapel Hill, NC under Bill Neal, the renowned southern chef credited with spurring the renaissance of interest in regional southern foodways.
He then spent several years cooking in New York City before moving to Charleston where he opened Hominy Grill in 1996. Over the years, Hominy Grill and Stehling gained a major following and significant national acclaim including the coveted James Beard Award for Best Chef for his unique and personal style of cooking – historically informed, deceptively simple, casual in format yet deeply serious about quality and ingredients.
An early distinction of the restaurant was Stehling’s commitment to showcasing breakfast and treating it as seriously, resulting in RW Apple, the legendary food writer declaring Hominy Grill’s breakfasts as “the best in America” in The New York Times.
Hominy Grill was at the forefront of Charleston’s food renaissance in the early 2000’s in many other ways. Stehling played an active role in building support for local producers and bringing attention to issues of sustainability and land use.
Over the 23 years of the restaurant, Hominy Grill and Stehling received wide acclaim from the food world. In addition to the Beard award, the restaurant/Stehling were prominently featured in such publications as The New York Times, Food & Wine Magazine, Bon Appetit, Travel & Leisure, Southern Living, Garden & Gun among others as well as on national television and other outlets.
Throughout the years of the restaurant, Stehling always remained committed to maintaining the principles of food grounded in tradition and a sense of place and rooted in community.