Maya Lovelace
Yonder | Portland, OR
APRIL 2018
Maya Lovelace was born into Western Carolina and Appalachian cooking traditions. At her grandmother Mae’s house in Hickory, North Carolina, she would stand on a step stool to help make yeast rolls for dinner. Outside influences came in the form of Julia Child, Justin Wilson, and The Silver Palate, from which she cooked her first (unsuccessful) soufflé for her parents.
Lovelace got her professional start cooking at Neapolitan restaurant Monza, where she prepared butterbean and shrimp salads for a regular named Sean Brock. When Brock was opening Husk, Lovelace was his first hire. After a year and a half of cooking with mentors Brock and Travis Grimes, Lovelace decided it was time to venture out of the South. In Portland, Oregon, she worked for Naomi Pomeroy at Beast, Troy MacLarty at Bollywood Theater, and Janis Martin at Tanuki.
Lovelace launched a pop-up to honor her roll-baking grandmother after she died in 2012. Dubbed Mae, the popup quickly took off, and Lovelace’s fried chicken and soulful style gained a serious following. In 2017 and 2018, she was a semifinalist for James Beard’s “Rising Star Chef of the Year.” Eater named Yonder—Lovelace’s forthcoming restaurant—one of the year’s “Most Anticipated Restaurant Openings.”
