Enjoy the entire Maverick collection. Click here. Click here to make a reservation thru OpenTable™ Click here to learn more about our historic inn. A peek behind the scenes at Maverick Southern Kitchens. Frank Lee Paul Thompson Frank Lee Executive Chef He wears a baseball cap instead of a starchy chef’s bonnet. His accent is country Carolinian, not downtown Parisian. And rather than barking orders in his bustling restaurant kitchens, he smiles a lot. He’s also one of the region’s most celebrated chefs. Meet Frank Lee, culinary guru for Maverick Southern Kitchens and the inspiration behind the creative approach to cooking that’s become a Maverick trademark. He brings a passion for fresh, local foods, a mastery of French technique, and a love for the authentic multicultural flavorings that have characterized Charleston cooking for centuries. Frank is a Carolina native who launched his cooking career in 1973 as co-owner of a natural foods restaurant in Columbia. A few years later, he started broadening his horizons by apprenticing with chef Malcolm Hudson, then working with some of the household names of American-French cooking, like Jovan Trboyevic at Chicago’s Le Perroquet, and Yannick Cam of Washington’s Le Pavillion. He came to the Lowcountry to handle chef duties at Wild Dunes and the highly acclaimed Restaurant Million. In 1992, restaurateur Dick Elliott lured Frank to The Colony House, Charleston’s oldest restaurant and banquet operation. Soon, they partnered with David Marconi to form Maverick Southern Kitchens, the group that now includes Slightly North of Broad, High Cotton, Old Village Post House and the Maverick kitchen store, Charleston Cooks! Chef Lee has been recognized as a Southern and Lowcountry culinary standout by critics from international food/travel magazines ranging from Gourmet and Food Arts to Food & Wine and Southern Living. The same goes for national publications like The New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today and the LA Times. He’s done guest appearances on ABC’s Good Morning America as well as Great Chefs of the South, and he’s been featured in dozens of local and regional journals. Frank also has an impressive collection of awards for menu specialties and even the restaurants he’s helped conceive. He’s helped some of the area’s most promising chefs move their careers along, and he’s a big-time supporter of local, independent organic farmers and food purveyors.