HEAD OF COURTESY LISA BROOKS

Charlotte-based Executive Chef Lisa Brooks kicks off the Joy of the Feast Food Tour on July 13 in Atlanta. The tour ends August 26-27 in Charlotte.

Chef Lisa Brooks hits the road.

The Charlotte-based Executive Chef and CEO of Heart & Soul Personal Chef Services is launching her first culinary tour, “Joy of the Feast,” July 13 in Atlanta. The 12-stop tour runs through August and ends with pop-up dinners on August 26 and 27 in Charlotte. Guests will find the location 24 hours before the dining experience, which will include a seven-course meal showcasing an element of Lowcountry coastal cuisine. A local black cook or mixologist from each city will be present at each stop.

“Our mission is to create memories with our customers to help be a part of them,” Brooks said. “We have been doing this locally for 11 years, and I decided to take a tour of my gourmet cuisine and my coastal Lowcountry experience.”

Brooks had the idea for a tour a few years ago and decided earlier this year that it was time to take the leap. She invented the “Joy of the Party” experience, because that’s exactly what she wants people to feel. It also happens to be the name of his cookbook, which is due out this summer.

“This is our mission statement, to help people rediscover the joy of feasting together,” said Brooks. “That’s really my whole mission: to help people remember what it’s like to gather around the table and the feeling you had growing up because we don’t do that much anymore.

Brooks will travel with 12 to 15 members of his team of 31 people. Some will participate for the duration of the tour, while others will be there for certain stops. They will help him create a setting where people enter as strangers and leave as friends.

“It’s just the power to break bread together,” she said. “It’s a powerful thing, especially people who might never meet or have a conversation in the atmosphere we create where people can just exchange important ideas, learn and talk to people they don’t. otherwise would not have and really connect to each other. “

The ingredients for the meals will be locally sourced to help create a taste of each city they visit. Brooks wants guests to feel like they’ve walked into her home, rather than a formal banquet hall. Although the experience is upscale, it will feel inviting.

Brooks founded Heart & Soul in 2010 after leaving corporate life to pursue the Culinary Program at Central Piedmont Community College. She was 40 at the time.
“I didn’t even realize that cooking was a gift,” Brooks said. “I thought everyone could cook. I thought everyone’s grandmother and mother taught them how to cook. I didn’t think it was anything special.

While Brooks initially thought she would be a solopreneur, she has since recruited several interns from the culinary program as well as other chefs, all of whom are women.

“I’ve developed this incredible team of talented chefs, and we’re all on the same page,” Brooks said. “It’s like I take them under my apron like my grandmother takes me under her apron and shows them my ways.”
Stops and tour dates:

Atlanta July 13

Houston July 18

Dallas, Texas July 20

Los Angeles July 24

San Francisco July 30

Nashville, Tenn. 5 August

Chicago August 7

Columbus, Ohio August 11

New York City August 14th

Washington DC August 18

Durham 20 August

Charlotte August 26-27

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