Ashleigh Shanti

The Path

Training at Hampton University gave Ashleigh Shanti a base for work that moves across formats, cities, and service models. Her kitchen record runs through Virginia Beach, Baltimore, El Paso, Washington, D.C, and Asheville, with each stop adding another register to her understanding of how food operates in different settings: as restaurant work, event production, catering, and chef-led service. That range is visible in the roles themselves — cook and culinary event producer in Virginia Beach, cook at Charleston in Baltimore, Maryland, cook at Cinghiale in Baltimore, Maryland, catering worker in El Paso, Texas, culinary assistant at Vivian Howard, cook at Minibar in Washington, D.C, and Head Chef at Benne on Eagle in Asheville, North Carolina (2018–2020).

The Work Today

Good Hot Fish is built as a sustainability-focused fish fry concept, but the format is only part of the brief. Its reference point is the Southern fish camp: fried fish, gathering, and the particular social tempo of a fish fry. The work sits in that overlap between memory and service, where atmosphere, heat, and shared eating are part of the product as much as the food itself. The menu carries that idea through dishes such as trout bologna and sweet potato cabbage pancake, both at Good Hot Fish. Those names signal a kitchen working with texture, familiar flavors, and regional shorthand rather than overstatement. The effect is direct: food that reads as fish fry, but through a narrower and more considered lens. Alongside this, Shanti also works as a freelance chef. When she speaks about food, the language stays close to function and feeling: “Food to me is nourishment um it also professionally evokes a lot of emotions.” In the same vein, she has described Asheville this way: “The food scene in Asheville is vibrant, growing, and [has] proven to be incredibly resilient.”

Signature

Ashleigh's signature dishes include trout bologna and sweet potato cabbage pancake. Both show a kitchen working from Southern reference points while keeping the focus on texture, familiarity, and careful reworking of recognizable forms.

In Their Words “It’s such a special moment to work with chefs from such vast backgrounds and diverse cuisines. It serves as a great reflection of the melting pot that is American food.” “The food scene in Asheville is vibrant, growing, and [has] proven to be incredibly resilient.”

Acclaim

Ashleigh's honors include James Beard Award, U.S. Foodways category (2025).