RouXbarb, Knoxville

After his first dishwashing job piqued his interest in the restaurant business, Chef Bruce Bogartz set out on a roundabout journey that took him through a degree in economics and then north to study at the Philadelphia Culinary School. Finally he returned to his home city with a focus on Southern and East Tennessee cooking techniques and founded RouXbarb. There, Chef Bruce makes all of his soups, stocks, and desserts in-house, using produce from local farms and meat and fish free of hormones, antibiotics, and steroids whenever possible. Drawing from his region's recipes and cooking techniques, he crafts house-smoked pork, crispy chicken livers with cheese grits, crusted steaks, and pecan-crusted catfish. He has earned accolades such as Metro Pulse’s 2012 Best Chef for his efforts, and for lucky audiences, he passes on these skills. At seasonal wine dinners and themed cooking classes, he teaches students recipes for chicken wings, crusted steaks, and banana pudding while answering questions about spice combinations and whether butter screams when it’s fried.