CR Nicolaisen

For the past 22 years Chef C.R. "Robbie" Nicolaisen has been highly recognized in and around Carolinas for his farm-to-table style of cuisine. He was awarded several academic scholarships while attending the highly accredited Johnson and Wales University in Charleston, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude.

Shortly after graduating from Johnson and Wales University, at the young age of 24, his professional culinary career elevated immensely as he received his first Executive Chef position with Hilton hotels. Since then, he has expanded his career to other large scale resorts such as the Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina, country clubs such as Sea Trail Golf Resort in Sunset Beach, NC and the exclusive Shoals Club at Bald Head Island, NC. Chef Nicolaisen is currently Executive Chef for the Marina Inn at Grande Dunes & WaterScapes Restaurant where he continues to practice his philosophy of preparing and serving locally sourced, sustainable products in a unique style.

Chef Nicolaisen has been committed to the Carolinas throughout his career as he was born and raised in the Piedmont area of North Carolina.

His passion of the food arts started early with fond memories of working on the family farm just outside of Asheboro, NC where he learned about the importance of fresh, locally sourced farm to table foods while harvesting crops; canning & preserving and preparing food with his mother and grandmother for "supper".

As a teenager, he continued to work in several, local, family owned restaurants in Raleigh, NC but it took working for his dad, who was also an Executive Chef, to inspire him to take his culinary career to the next level.

Staying involved in the community is an important aspect of his career with constant involvement in Fooday.org, Southern Foodways Alliance, & the James Beard Foundation. Chef Nicolaisen has also been publically recognized for his skills by winning a National Recipe Award from starchefs.com in 2007. He is an has been locally featured in print and television. He currently lives in Myrtle Beach with his wife Rachael and daughter Paisley.

Chef Nicolaisen truly believes that we have separated ourselves as a society from the origin of our food and we owe it to ourselves to eliminate the dependency on industrialized food products.