Our Team
JEFFREY RUSSELL
Executive Chef
Chef Jeffrey Russell joined the Sanderling Team in 2011 as Executive Chef. With 25 years of culinary experience with resorts, he joined The Sanderling most recently from the Equinox Resort and Spa in Manchester, Vermont. Prior, Chef Jeff was executive chef for the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah; Desert Sage Restaurant in La Quinta, California; and Ventana Room at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort in Tucson, Arizona. His cuisine is rooted in Sustainable, Organic, Artisinal and Local ingredients - or what we at the Sanderling have adapted as S.O.A.L. Russell received his culinary education from the Culinary Institute of America in New York.
TRAVIS LEE ROBINSON
Chef de Cuisine, The Left Bank
As Chef de Cuisine of The Left Bank, Travis Lee Robinson helms the culinary program of the Outer Bank's only AAA Four-Diamond restaurant. Chef Robinson has created a menu of contemporary American cuisine imparting the traditions and techniques of the French culinary arts. His focus is on creatively sourcing local ingredients and he is dedicated to a philosophy rooted in sustainability.
Chef Travis's first expression of the culinary arts came in his hometown at The Ritz-Carlton Palm Beach. Travis comes to The Left Bank after previously serving as Sous Chef at Le Vigne, the signature restaurant at Montaluce Winery. Prior to that, Travis worked with Arnaud Berthelier at The Mobil 5 Star Dining Room in the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead. At The Ritz-Carlton Tyson's Corner, he worked alongside James Beard Award Winner Fabio Trabocchi, at his 5 Diamond restaurant, Maestro. Within the Grand Floridian Resort, he spent time with Beard Award nominee Scott Hunnel at The 5 Diamond Victoria & Albert's.
Internationally, Chef Travis has worked at the Michelin Star rated Maze by Gordon Ramsey in London, as well as the Three Michelin Star Waterside Inn. He also resided at the legendary Bray eatery, The Fat Duck, S. Pellegrino's #1 Ranked Restaurant in the World in 2005.
Chef Robinson's mission is to serve the bounty of local farmers and fisherman with an emphasis on using Sustainable, Organic, Artisinal and Local Ingredients. This concept we refer to as S.O.A.L
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.
