Unlike his friends who grew up eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Shane Devereux discovered his passion for cooking as a child, nibbling on Vietnamese snacks such as crispy pig ears in the kitchen of his family’s suburban Philadelphia home. Food was an important part of the Devereux daily life, and Shane was always around to help out in the kitchen. The fact that his was a Vietnamese family brought an element of diversity into Devereux’s early contact with food, giving him an appreciation for ethnic cuisine that continues to influence his cooking style.

Devereux fueled his passion for food by accepting a position of pantry cook at a local private club outside of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Quickly realizing he had found a way of life, Devereux moved on to work for three of Philadelphia’s most well-respected certified French Master Chefs: Dominique Filoni, Jean Marie LaCroix, and Jean Francois Taquet. Devereux not only developed a passion for French cuisine; he expanded his skills exponentially. At Filoni’s Bianca Restaurant in Bryn Mawr, PA, Devereux worked his way from pantry cook to sous chef, learning all aspects of the kitchen from preparation to menu creation to logistics.

Well-prepared to man his own kitchen, Devereux moved to Atlanta, Georgia, to open Peasant Bistro. After embedding himself in the local culinary scene, Devereux joined the team behind Dinner Party Atlanta, a crew of restaurateurs set on creating a unique restaurant experience (think pop-up dinners in an airplane hanger or cemetery). The crew went on to open Top Flr, Sound Table, and the forthcoming The Lawrence restaurants, where Devereux puts out creative dishes that combine the ethnic ingredients of his childhood, the French techniques of his training, and his own personal (and dare we say, addictive) spark.