Chef Suzanne Loving on Cooking, Local Seafood, and The Outer Banks

By Keyla Vasconcellos
Nov. 15, 2021

This article features an edited Q&A with Suzanne Loving, the head chef at Trio Restaurant & Market in Kitty Hawk. The conversation centers on her path from Virginia to Nashville, Tennessee and then The Outer Banks, her approach to local ingredients and seafood, the growth of Trio, teamwork in the kitchen, and her experience proving herself as a woman in a male-dominated industry.

Suzanne Loving is a Virginia native with a willingness to stretch expectations in the kitchens she leads. Her career has included launching a successful pie shop in Nashville and becoming executive chef at Kitty Hawk’s Trio Restaurant & Market in the Outer Banks. She describes herself as someone who keeps looking for new ways to help the islands’ culinary scene keep developing.

Suzanne Loving’s Background

Suzanne Loving moved to Nashville, Tennessee almost fifteen years ago, and that is where her professional cooking career began. She attended culinary school in Nashville, worked in several restaurants, and later opened a successful restaurant of her own.

Over time, she reassessed where she was in life and decided she wanted to live nearer to her family. That decision brought her to The Outer Banks, where she built a house two years ago.

Why Trio Was the Right Fit

Suzanne Loving was drawn to Trio because she wanted a workplace that would not limit her based on gender. She notes that female chefs are often pushed toward pastry or into roles other than executive chef. After relocating her entire life, she wanted to enjoy the work and avoid being boxed into other people’s assumptions.

Trio gave her that opening. The restaurant already had a female kitchen manager, which helped make the idea of a female chef feel more natural within the operation. She also points out that it can be difficult to connect with other female chefs, partly because many of them are occupied with running every part of their kitchens.

How Trio Has Grown

Suzanne Loving sees Trio as an excellent space with strong potential. The restaurant has been open for 10 years, and during the two years she has worked there, the kitchen has been remodeled and expanded two to three times. Another expansion is underway because the team has already outgrown the space again.

Before the pandemic, the business mix was roughly 40% food and 60% alcohol, which she describes as typical. After Trio reopened in June of 2020, that split reversed to about 60% food and 40% alcohol. Food has become a major driver, and the kitchen stays busy every day.

Menu Changes and Local Seafood

Suzanne Loving first joined Trio as a cook. From the beginning, she felt that the restaurant was where she belonged. The management, leadership, and owners made sense to her, and she wanted to be part of discovering how Trio could grow.

Because Trio is so close to the ocean, she saw room to do more with the menu. Since she began working there, the kitchen has focused on using as much local seafood as possible.

Outer Banks Ingredients and Community Support

For Suzanne Loving, the access to local food in The Outer Banks is one of the area’s great strengths. Seafood is widely loved there, while Trio also offers other choices for guests who prefer something else.

The restaurant tries to use as much local produce as possible, working with local farms and artisanal vendors. She believes supporting other people in the community matters and says there is room for everyone. The restaurants around Trio each have their own specialties, which she views as a positive part of the local dining landscape.

Helping Trio Through Difficult Early Years

When Suzanne Loving started at Trio, she was a cook. About six months later, she was offered the chance to lead the kitchen, and at that point she asked to become executive chef. Two weeks after that, the restaurant shut down because of the pandemic.

Trio remained closed for about three months. During that time, Suzanne Loving met almost daily with one of the owners, the retail manager, and the general manager to plan what would come next.

Trio is more than a restaurant. It also operates as a marketplace, selling thousands of wines, hundreds of beers, and many cheeses from around the world. During the shutdown, the team shifted focus. Owner Kenny created $100 cases of wine for curbside pickup, and Trio began offering large family meals that customers could order, pair with wine, and reheat at home.

The team also introduced a mystery cheese bag that is still being sold. It includes almost a quarter pound of assorted cheeses and a small baguette for 20 bucks.

Kitty Hawk depends heavily on visitors from many places, but Trio also received strong local support. Suzanne Loving credits that in part to strict protocols during the pandemic and the team’s consistency in enforcing them.

Events, Seasons, and Continued Demand

Trio planned an Oktoberfest for October, with the hope that the fall menu change would be in place by then.

Even while operating at half capacity, Trio was breaking sales records that had been set at full capacity. Suzanne Loving connects that sustained volume to the rise in remote work, with many people choosing to spend time at the beach while working from home.

Pies After Nashville

Because Suzanne Loving previously owned a pie shop in Nashville, pies remain part of her work. With pie season arriving, Trio planned to add new pies to the menu.

She has also created exclusive Trio pies, including a peanut butter and jelly pie. Another version used an in-house blackberry cider reduced into a more grown-up take on PB&J.

What Makes a Restaurant Work

Suzanne Loving believes that when people genuinely enjoy what they are doing, guests notice. If the experience feels good, customers appreciate it, tell others, and bring more people in. To her, that is what restaurant success looks like.

An Ideal Day Off in The Outer Banks

On a day off in The Outer Banks, Suzanne Loving likes several local restaurants. One favorite is Green Tails, a small seafood market near her neighborhood.

Green Tails goes to the docks every couple of days and buys whatever is available. The owners create unusual specials with fish that restaurants may not typically put on menus.

Advice for People Starting in Hospitality

Suzanne Loving encourages people beginning in hospitality to be open to learning from a female leader and to accept coaching. At her former pie shop, college students came to work for her; once they understood and committed to the mission, they stayed and learned a great deal.

She sees teamwork as the most important part of the kitchen. Everyone needs to work toward the same goal and support one another. At Trio, the kitchen is small, so people do whatever needs to be done. Often, two people handle three hundred covers a night, and she believes that if they can manage that, they can handle anything.

Category and Tags

Category: Culinary
Tags: Kitty Hawk

Author

Keyla Vasconcellos is a freelance writer with a passion for food, lifestyle, and travel. She is often looking through Los Angeles for her next memorable meal, photographing food for restaurant clients, or thinking about where she wants to travel next.