Chef Sam Cahoon on brunch, seafood and growing his Savorez restaurant

Allison Ballard, Wilmington StarNews
Updated ·3 min read
Sam Cahoon, chef and owner at Savorez restaurant, at 402 Chestnut St., Wilmington, N.C. on July 10, 2023. ALLISON BALLARD/STARNEWS
Sam Cahoon, chef and owner at Savorez restaurant, at 402 Chestnut St., Wilmington, N.C. on July 10, 2023. ALLISON BALLARD/STARNEWS

Since Sam Cahoon opened Savorez in 2017 at 402 Chestnut St. in Wilmington, he's developed a steady clientele that consistently fills the 36-seat restaurant and earned a national reputation for being named on Yelp’s annual list of the best breakfast and brunch restaurants in the country.

Recently, Cahoon has added to the business by partnering with Bespoke Coffee & Dry Goods for a “Little Savorez” outpost a few blocks away at 204 Princess St.

Cahoon gave his take to the StarNews about the restaurant and what's next for the business.

His responses below have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

Let’s talk brunch. Why do you think your brunch is so popular?

Cahoon: It’s funny, we only do brunch once a week, on Sunday, but the Yelp thing has created an allure. There’s always a line out the door at the beginning of brunch. As a business owner, it’s something I'm excited to see. As a chef, it’s like ‘OK, here we go...'

We purposely created brunch as a short shift. I think it’s just good food. It’s fun. It’s a little different than what we normally provide. It’s solid and it’s a great price. Maybe too good.

Savorez and Bespoke Coffee & Dry Goods have partnered for a "Little Savorez" location with grab-and-go fare at 204 Princess St., Wilmington, N.C. ALLISON BALLARD/STARNEWS
Savorez and Bespoke Coffee & Dry Goods have partnered for a "Little Savorez" location with grab-and-go fare at 204 Princess St., Wilmington, N.C. ALLISON BALLARD/STARNEWS

What do you wish more people knew about Savorez?

I think we’re underrated when it comes to seafood restaurants. We do predominantly seafood. Not to say that we don’t offer something for everyone, but we take a lot of pride of the seafood we cook. We pretty much use all local stuff, with the exception of lobster.

And we go out of our way to find unusual fish. Red Drum is North Carolina’s state fish, and a lot of people don’t realize that there are state fish. But I call my fishmongers every day and ask what’s fresh. Our lobster ceviche and tuna tostada have always been huge hits.

How did Little Savorez get started?

I used to work at Tower 7 at the beach when Café del Mar was there. They used to do breakfast burritos there. It wasn't something they heavily advertised, but the local surfers knew. And I really loved what it provided for the community. When Chris (Batten, owner of Bespoke) first mentioned that he had kitchen space, that's what came to mind.

We started in April, but we wanted to take it super slow. We have the basic items (such as burritos, bowls, and French Toast Bites). But we do specials, and have some cold items, some of them are more lunchy. We recently started a pastry program there. I'm not a pastry chef, but I can do a strawberry hand pie, or empanadas. We're looking into doing more there, eventually. I think we'd like to do more events there. And at some point, we'd like to do cooking classes there, too.

More: For 24/7 burgers and breakfast sandwiches, try the new restaurant at this Wilmington shop

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Allison Ballard is the food and dining reporter at the StarNews. You can reach her ataballard@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Savorez restaurant owner on Yelp, brunch and breakfast burritos