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 like crispy pig ears in the kitchen of his family’s suburban Philadelphia home. Food was an important part of daily life, and Devereux 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 today.

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 respected certified French Master Chefs: Dominique Filoni, Jean-Marie LaCroix, and Jean-François Taquet. Devereux not only developed a passion for French cuisine; but he also expanded his skills exponentially. At Filoni’s Bianca Restaurant in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, Devereux worked his way from pantry cook to sous chef, learning all aspects of the kitchen from preparation and menu creation to logistics.

Prepared to man his own kitchen, Devereux moved to Atlanta to open Peasant Bistro. And after embedding himself in the local culinary scene, Devereux joined the team behind Top Flr, merging hip music and creative cuisine. As a sounding board for their future ventures, the crew launched Dinner Party Atlanta, creating unique restaurant experiences throughout the city (think pop-up dinners in an airplane hanger or cemetery), and later opened Sound Table. But it’s at Devereux’s newest venture, The Lawrence, where the chef’s talents really shine, in a menu inspired by the ethnic ingredients of his childhood, the French techniques of his training, and his own personal (and dare we say, addictive) spark. And it's that spark that landed him among the class of StarChefs.com's 2012 Atlanta Rising Stars.