Bob Waggoner & In the Kitchen with Chef Bob Waggoner

Bob Waggoner was raised in California and trained under Great Chef Michael Roberts at Trumps (before The Donald) in Los Angeles. He then traveled to France and worked under another dozen Michelin-starred chefs for several years, then down to Venezuela for a year to work under Jean-Paul Coupal.  In 1986 he returned to France as chef at the Hotel de la Poste in Avallon.   Two years later, he opened his own restaurant, Le Monte Cristo, in Monéteau.  In 1991, he closed the restaurant to join Jean-Pierre Silva at Le Vieux Moulin.

In 1994, he returned to the U.S. to work at Turnberry Isle, north of Miami, before restaurateur, Dr. Tom Allen, lured him to the Wild Boar in Nashville.  The restaurant received numerous awards.  Food critic, John Mariani, said it was one of the most exciting and refined places to dine in the South.  In 1996, the Great Chefs television team showed up to tape Chef Bob for the Discovery Channel’s Great Chefs of the South series.  Less than a year later, Dr. Allen passed away and there were rumors that the restaurant may close.  About the same time, the management of Great Chefs received a call from the general manager of the Charleston Inn, saying that they were in immediate need of a Great Chef.  Chef Bob was put together with the Charleston Inn management, and the following week Chef Bob Waggoner became the new executive chef of the Charleston Inn in Charleston, South Carolina.

In December of 2014, Chef Bob opened his own place, In the Kitchen with Chef Bob Waggoner, in downtown Charleston where he remains today in 2016.