Our Team

JOSHUA HOLLINGER
Executive Chef, Sanderling Resort

Joshua Hollinger joins The Sanderling Resort & Spa as the new Executive Chef.

As a child, Joshua knew he would either become a sea captain or a chef. Brought up on the Chesapeake Bay and having a family owned slaughterhouse in Pennsylvania, he was constantly around food and discovered early on that he was a natural cook. But he pursued his other dream first, graduating from the Seafarers Harry Lundeberg School of Seamanship in Piney Point, Maryland, and traveling through 22 countries as a merchant marine.

Ultimately, cooking called him back. Joshua joined Drew Nieporent's Myriad Restaurant Group as chef de partie at New York City's Tribeca Grill, then as consulting chef for Myriad's new property openings all over the East Coast. After serving as executive sous chef of The Coach House- now Water St. on Martha's Vineyard in 2002-2003, Joshua cooked in Europe and San Francisco before landing in Florida. He spent three years manning the kitchens at Smokin' Martini in Palmetto and Beach Bistro on Anna Maria Island.

The Northeast beckoned him again and he returned to Martha's Vineyard as the Executive Chef at the Harbor View Hotel & Resort and Water St. where he continued to develop his sustainable food approach while transforming the restaurant and designing a $4m kitchen.

Joining The Sanderling Resort & Spa, Joshua hopes to bring his 'Farm to Table' passion to the Outer Banks as never before seen and establish the Resort as a food destination. Please join us and experience the talents that Joshua brings to The Sanderling Resort & Spa.

CHRISTOPHER GERSTER
Chef de Cuisine, The Left Bank

Christopher Gerster joins the culinary team as the Chef de Cuisine of the Left Bank. Christopher graduated from New England Culinary Institute and worked as a Sous Chef under Stewart Woodman who was awarded Food and Wine's Top 10 Best New Chefs in 2006. Under Chef Woodman who has been trained by some of the top chefs in the world including Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Eric Ripert, Christopher perfected his technique for classic French cuisine and concentrated on modern American skills.

Chef Christopher "strives to make food taste like it was intended to." When creating a dish he looks at the traditional roots and believes in cooking beautiful ingredients simply to preserve their natural flavor.

MICHEL NISCHAN
Sanderling Culinary Consultant

As a leader in the sustainable food movement and chef with over 30 years of experience working with local producers and farmers, two-time James Beard Foundation award winner Michel Nischan wears many hats. Nischan is the owner/founder of Dressing Room: A Homegrown Restaurant, located at Westport (CT) Country Playhouse, as well as President/CEO of Wholesome Wave Foundation. The nonprofit organization's mission is to overhaul the nation's food system by increasing access to healthy, fresh and affordable locally grown food. Wholesome Wave and Dressing Room work in tandem to create grassroots initiatives that celebrate local food systems and heritage recipes.

Nischan's newest cookbook Sustainably Delicious (Rodale) will be released in April, 2010. An author of two celebrated cookbooks - Taste Pure and Simple; Chronicle Books 2003 (a best-selling Beard award winner in 2004) and Homegrown Pure and Simple; Chronicle Books 2005, Nischan won a 2008 James Beard Foundation Award for his work on the PBS television series, Victory Garden.

A son of displaced farmers, Nischan grew up with a deep appreciation for sustainable agriculture and those who work the land. As a professional chef and advocate for a more healthful, organic and sustainable food future, he has built on those childhood values and become a catalyst for change and new initiatives in local and regional food systems. Wholesome Wave was founded in 2007 with funding from Newman's Own Foundation and the Betsy and Jesse Fink Foundation, and supported in part by funding from Grow for Good, a philanthropic initiative of FOOD & WINE Magazine.

Nischan serves on the boards of the Amazon Conservation Team, the James Beard Foundation and Harvard's Center for Health and the Global Environment. He lives in Fairfield, Connecticut with his wife, Lori and their five children.