Evan Mallett

Evan Mallett is the chef and co-owner of Black Trumpet in Portsmouth, an 18-year-old restaurant dedicated to building a resilient community around our local food system, sustainability, and social justice.

The professional kitchen offers a unique perspective when it comes to mentorship. A chef’s role, like it or not, is a quintessential example of mentoring. Some chefs are torMENTORS, some are deMENTORS, and a few are encourageMENTORS.

In his talk, Evolution of a Mentor, Chef Evan will share how he has evolved (often unwittingly) as a mentor in his field–to his cooks and staff, but also often to his customers and even other chefs and cooks in our community.

Evan is a six-time James Beard Foundation semi-finalist for Best Chef, Northeast. In 2020, Black Trumpet was also nominated for a national Beard award for Best Hospitality. He has served on the boards of Chef's Collaborative, Slow Food Seacoast, and, most recently, Cultivate--a non-profit that he co-founded, which serves as an umbrella organization for local food and culture celebrations such as BIPOC Fest and Farm-a-Q. In 2016, Evan wrote an award-winning book published by Chelsea Green Publishing entitled Black Trumpet: A Chef’s Journey through Eight New England Seasons.