Chef Larry Fuller | 141 North

Five Minutes with Chef Larry Fuller, 141 North Restaurant & Lounge:

Chef Fuller snagged first place in Wilmington’s International StreetFood Challenge with a great plate of barbeque pork, shrimp, and crab fried rice. That’s winning.

This restaurant has closed. Please enjoy this article on part of Port City dining history!

Cookin’ Down Home

Right now, I’m doing what I call “classical Southern.” Other places do Southern, but it’s more like “top-end cuisine Southern.” We do top-notch here, but it’s more… down home Southern cookin’. You can come in here get your pot of collard greens, mac n’ cheese, potato salad… some nice, home-made corn bread… that’s what you get. We dress it up, so you still get that feel of upscale, but it’s just isn’t as pricey, and it’s real food.

Food Love

I just love to cook – Southern food, like this, but really, any food.

I’ve been cooking all my life, but let’s say, since I was sixteen, really cooking. I’ve been cooking forever. I did study at Cape Fear Community College. I went to culinary school. But, I went to culinary school 13 years after I worked in restaurants. So, I did it for awhile, and then I went to school.

I love steak. Omgosh, I just love meat and potatoes. I cook all this fancy stuff, and I just love to eat a steak. Simple. What’s in my fridge? Bologna and beer. [laughing] I’m tellin’ you. I really don’t cook at home. Only on special occasions, like Christmas, Thanksgiving for my family, but just every day cooking. No. I don’t. I eat out a lot.

Jazzing It Up on Front

We’ve been open two months now. I was at the George for seven years before this.

We’re doing good here at 141 North. Dinner is really taking off. We’ve got good food, and live entertainment on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Live jazz. This was a sushi restaurant before, now it looks totally different here. The owners did a great job. The kitchen is on the third floor – it’s work… more work for them than for me, but it’s work. We have a downstairs kitchen, that’s were all the cold food comes from: the salads, the desserts. The hot food comes from the third floor. It’s good exercise for everyone.

And Winning

I like doing competitions. It’s a challenge competing against the other local chefs, and seeing what they’ve got, and the trends that are happening. I like seeing what everyone is doing. We all know each other, we’ve all worked together. It’s fun.

When I was at The George, we made lots of “best” and “top” lists. And we won the March of Dimes cooking competition a few years ago. We’re going to keep winning… I’m doing what I love.

Sample Chef Larry Fuller’s soulful Southern food at 141 North Front Street and find them on Facebook at 141 North Front Restaurant & Lounge

Love Regional North Carolina cooking? Find more restaurants like 141 North Front.

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