Nick Barr is the Chef de Cuisine of Chai Pani Asheville, the James Beard Award winner for Outstanding Restaurant in 2022. Nick took the helm in 2024, seven years after joining Chai Pani Restaurant Group. Growing up on the North Carolina coast then the piedmont, Nick began his restaurant and chef career in the mountains. After working nearly a decade with a restaurant chain, Nick became obsessed with local agriculture and left his job as General Manager to work in permaculture. Nick pursued a variety of agriculture endeavors like starting his own condiments business, delivery service and family CSA, before joining the kitchen team at Buxton Hall Barbecue in 2017. He was GM at the beloved Nani’s Piri Piri Chicken from 2020-2022, and then returned to lead the Buxton Hall kitchen for its final two years of service. Nick lives on his own Big Ivy Little Farm in Weaverville, NC, with his partner and their chickens, goats and homestead hogs.