William Stark Dissen is a renowned chef, author, culinary diplomat, restaurateur, and early pioneer of the farm-to-table movement in Asheville, North Carolina and surrounding regions. His titles also include, Seafood Watch Ambassador to The Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, and Official Ambassador for Le Creuset and Mountain Valley Spring Water.
Named Fortune Magazine’s “Green Chef of the Year” two years in a row, William’s endeavors in sustainable food and dining, coupled with his passion for foraging and fly-fishing, often take him from the kitchen, into the mountain streams and peaks of the Southeastern, United States, Appalachian region, and beyond.
Founder of four award-winning restaurant concepts: The Market Place, Billy D’s Fried Chicken, Little Gem, and Haymaker (sold in 2023), William draws inspiration from his experiences traveling the world, creating dishes that tell a story, surprising guests with inventive food preservation techniques, and bringing classic dishes with explosive flavors to life.
In 2024, The Market Place received a James Beard Awards nomination for “Outstanding Restaurant.” Celebrating its 45th year of business, The Market Place has been under Dissen’s stewardship for more than 15 years, and is a fixture in Asheville’s vibrant mountain region.
William announced the release of his debut cookbook, “Thoughtful Cooking: Recipes Rooted In the New South” on April 2, 2024, published by W.W. Norton Countryman Press. In it, Dissen takes readers on a transformative culinary journey, carefully organized by the four seasons of Appalachia’s most sought after ingredients. The book was named “Best Spring Cookbooks” by Food & Wine Magazine and is available everywhere books are sold.
Driven by a passion for building sustainable food systems, William created North Carolina’s first fast casual, farm-to-table eatery, called Billy D’s Fried Chicken. The quick-serve dining restaurant provides farm-fresh chicken and ingredients for its customers. The business maintains three locations at The North Carolina Zoo, Wake Forest University, and Elon University. Dissen also created the upscale restaurant Haymaker in uptown Charlotte, N.C. Haymaker received numerous “Best Restaurant” awards from Southern Living and Food & Wine, among others. It was catalyst for more upscale dining restaurants coming to the uptown area. Dissen successfully exited Haymaker in 2023.
William’s efforts to uplift the principles of food sustainability in his restaurant and network of vendors and suppliers, has not gone unnoticed. It caught the eye of Celebrity Chef Gordon Ramsay, who featured Asheville on NatGeo TV’s, “Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted, Smoky Mountains.” The hour-long episode featured William touring Ramsay through the forest and rivers of Western North Carolina, and concluded with the two chefs competing in a peer-reviewed cook-off. William beat Ramsay for the first and only time in the show’s three seasons. Through this experience, Gordon Ramsay named William, “The Most Sustainable Chef on the Planet!”
A career in the culinary arts led Dissen to become an advocate for food policy on Capitol Hill starting in 2010, where he’s lobbied to Congress about the importance of passing legislation, such as The Farm Bill, The Childhood Nutrition Reauthorization Act, and The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. The Barack Obama administration lauded William as a, “White House Champion of Change for Sustainable Seafood” for his work to create healthier oceans. He also serves in the American Chefs Corps in the U.S. State Department, which sees him traveling around the world to promote American food culture and sustainability practices.
