Paul Smith

Chef Paul Smith is all-in on West Virginia. After traveling the country for his culinary education with stops in places like Napa Valley and New York City, he’s happy to be back in the state where he first shaped bread dough at his grandfather’s kitchen counter. “There just isn’t another place like West Virginia, you know?” he says.

Currently serving as chef/owner at Dunbar’s The Pitch, a sports bar, and Charleston’s 1010 Bridge Restaurant & Catering, an Appalachian-influenced restaurant, and previously helping to launch the Filipino restaurant Barkadas in Charleston, Chef Paul Smith is eager to continue pushing the boundaries of his food expertise while working to make his home state a tourist destination. “When I go somewhere and say I’m from Charleston, West Virginia, they say, ‘Oh, I drove through there—it’s a pretty capital,’” Smith says. “Well, to tell you the truth, I want to be a part of why people want to stop.”