Steven Devereaux Greene is executive chef of The Umstead Hotel and Spa, a Cary, NC, hotel lauded for its progressive American regional cuisine. He is responsible for all food and beverage operations, including Herons restaurant, The Bar & Lounge, and catering. Greene’s passion for using ingredients and products from the rich Piedmont region to drive beautifully refined culinary experiences is evident daily in The Umstead’s award-winning dining program. Greene has been a 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2026 semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation’s “Best Chef: Southeast” award, and esteemed restaurant critic John Mariani has noted, “Herons matches everything else of quality at The Umstead but stands as a culinary beacon in the entire region, a restaurant of great generosity and elegant proof of fine dining's enduring pleasures.”

 

Greene’s tenure with The Umstead began in 2009. During his post as chef de cuisine, Greene guided Herons to its first Forbes Five Star rating. In 2012, Greene departed to hone his skills as executive chef of Cary’s New World Cuisine, a restaurant that shares ownership with The Umstead. Under Greene’s direction, it received five stars from The News & Observer and was named among “the Triangle’s crème de la crème.” Greene returned to manage The Umstead’s culinary operations in 2014 and continues to provide creative leadership as its culinary director. 

 

In 2018, Greene introduced a new dining experience to Herons, the Art Tour, a tasting menu inspired by the hotel’s carefully curated collection of artwork, offering guests a new way of seeing and experiencing the relationship between art and nature. Moved by the pieces in the hotel, Chef Greene created a provocative multi-course tasting menu that brings The Umstead’s featured art to life. The experience received five stars from acclaimed News & Observer critic Greg Cox, in a review titled “Herons epicurean tour of the culinary arts is the meal of a lifetime” published in August 2018. The following January, Cox named Herons the 2019 Restaurant of the Year, noting “[Greene] has never failed to deliver a memorable meal when I’ve eaten there. But the last one was an experience that rose to the level of transcendent…Playing on all the senses with rare virtuosity, the meal earned a place among the handful of most memorable meals of my life…Factor in polished but unintimidating service, and an outstanding wine list, and it’s clear that Herons is flying higher than ever.”

 

Greene’s background includes work in some of the country’s most celebrated kitchens. After serving as chef de cuisine at the Dining Room at Woodlands Resort and Inn in Summerville, SC, Greene was inspired to open his namesake restaurant, Devereaux’s, which quickly became a mainstay in Greenville, SC. Named a “Rising Star” by Restaurant Hospitality in 2008, Greene has twice cooked at the prestigious James Beard House in New York.

 

Greene is the consummate Southern gentleman and hails from Ninety-Six, SC. He lives in Morrisville, NC, with his wife and son, and beyond family and food, his next great passion is guitar, which he has played for more than 30 years

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