Alden Binet Lanier & Lazy L&B Ranch / Dubois, Wyoming

Alden Binet Lanier was born on a Friday the 13th in 1957, and was raised in and around the Okeefeenokee Swamp in Georgia.  He started cooking at the early age of eight and learned a lot from his mother and the women who worked on the plantations in that area.  In 1977, at the age of 19, he moved to South America to be in charge of the food and kitchens for 50 men in the jungle for a mining company. Three years later, he returned to Albany, Georgia to run the kitchen of a small restaurant. In 1985, he worked for MW Associates in Charleston, running their German restaurant, the Colony House, and in 1987, he moved over to the kitchens of the Country Club of Charleston, South Carolina. He also took part interest in a small upscale steak house restaurant.

In 1989 Hurricane Hugo hit Charleston, South Carolina and all was lost.  But fortunately, Gregory Auger, whose family had owned Blackie’s House of Beef in Washington, DC since 1949, were already talking to Chef Lanier about opening their new LuLu’s New Orleans Café in Washington, DC.  Four months later, in 1990, Chef Lanier was running the kitchens of both Blackies & LuLu’s in Washington.  In 1993, the Great Chefs television crew showed up to tape Chef Lanier at Blackie’s for the Discovery Channel’s new television series, Great Chefs of the East (episodes #7 & 24).

Blackie’s closed on New Year’s Eve of 2005 after a 55-year run.  Chef Alden Binet Lanier moved to Dubois, Wyoming where he became the chef and general manager of the Lazy L&B Ranch.