The Literary Chef
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Introduction
The Literary Chef is created and maintained by Lucindy Willis, Ph.D., chef & co-owner of the Yancey House Restaurant and Gallery and director of YanceyVillage Preservation, a non-profit group, the purpose of which is to preserve, protect, and promote rural Caswell County’s rich history through such projects as the restoration of historically significant structures including the tobacco barn located on YanceyVillage property. The organization also serves to support and promote art in Caswell County, through artist in resident programs and special events.
The Literary Chef website is an expansion of Yanceyvillage.com. While the latter website focuses on the Yancey House Restaurant and the development of the surrounding 140 acres, this website focuses on the "back of the house," that is the kitchen, as well as topics of interest to the chef (literature, gardening, cooking).
About the Chef.
Lucindy grew up in East Texas, attended school at Louisiana Tech in Ruston where she majored in Architecture and met her husband, Michael. The two made their home in Louisiana until moving with their two children to North Carolina for Lucindy to attend graduate school at NCSU. As an English major, she was elected President of the Graduate English Association and was named Outstanding Teaching Assistant. Her master’s thesis was on "Victorian Critical Dialogue and Victorian Theories of Poetry: Arnold’s 1853 Preface and its Contexts." After receiving the Hayes Excellence Fellowship at UNC-G, she entered its doctoral program and later graduated with a Ph.D. in English (19th century British Literature).
Lucindy taught at Elon University, at UNC-G, and finally at North Carolina State University. While at NCSU, she taught British and American survey courses and composition courses in the computer classroom. During her tenure at NCSU, Dr. Willis received a DELTA Idea, CHASS, and FCTL grants. In 2000 she was named CHASS Outstanding Lecturer.
In 2002, her first book was published: Voices Unbound: The Lives and Works of Twelve American Women Intellectuals. Volume 7 of Scholarly Resources "Worlds of Women Series." No. 7. Scholarly Resources.
In 2005, Lucindy took early retirement from NCSU and entered a new career as chef of the Yancey House Restaurant.
From Academician to Restauranteur.
Soon after moving to Raleigh, Lucindy and Michael decided that, like the folks on TV sitcom Green Acres, "city life" was not for them. They found an idyllic setting, 37 acres on Farmer Lake just outside the small town of Yanceyville.
Some years later, they purchased the Bartlett Yancey House (c. 1807), home of Congressman, lawyer, educational reformer Bartlett Yancey, Jr. Michael's dream was to open a restaurant and to later build retirement townhomes and a shopping village. Phase 1, Yancey House Restaurant and Gallery, opened in November 2005.
Although Lucindy has had little formal training, she has been a gourmet cook since her late teens. Surprisingly it wasn't Julia Child that inspired her in the beginning; it was Vincent Price's A Treasury of Great Recipes which she found on the shelves of her high school library.
Having entertained large groups over the years, Lucindy felt comfortable in the commercial kitchen setting. With her husband's strong business acumen and her daughter's talent for running the front of the house, Lucindy has been able to focus on the kitchen and on developing new recipes and menus for the restaurant.
Bob Garner, Barbecue guru, with WUNC-TV dined at the restauran and featured the Yancey House Restaurant in Our State on PBS. In addition, the restaurant was featured in Our State Magazine's 75th anniversary issue, June 2008. Most recently, the Yancey House took first place in the Best Dish in NC Competition 2009 - Casual Dining. To read the latest review of the restaurant by John Batchelor, visit the Greensboro News and Record.
Currently, Lucindy composes a weekly column in the Caswell Messenger. You can visit the Messenger online at http://www.caswellmessenger.com/news/