Photo courtesy of Justin Driscoll. It originally appeared in an article by Cathy Martin for SouthPark Magazine. Used with permission.
Chris Rogienski’s interest in cooking began at a young age and it was no birthright.
“I come from a long line of terrible cooks,” said the executive chef at Leluia Hall—a trendsetting Charlotte, N.C., restaurant featured on PBS’s Fork & Hammer docuseries.
Rogienski recalls asking his mom for a crockpot at age 12, regularly cooking meals for the family and staying up too late to watch episodes of “Emeril” on TV. Come high school at Barry Tech in Westbury, N.Y., Rogienski was working in a restaurant and considered his knife skills to be pretty good. His culinary instructor and SkillsUSA advisor Chef John Murphy agreed.
“He saw me break down a chicken and said we’re going to train you to compete,” Rogienski said of the late Murphy who became a lifelong mentor.
Although high schooler didn’t do well in SkillsUSA New York’s 2006 Culinary Arts competition, he returned a year later with more training, technique and tenacity and won the state competition. As a state champion, Rogienski earned the opportunity to compete in the 2007 SkillsUSA Championships, held in Kansas City, Mo., during the National Leadership & Skills Conference (NLSC).
“When I first landed in Kansas City, I got to meet a lot of neat people in all different disciplines,” he said, noting that he still has 30 or so pins from the conference. Pin trading among SkillsUSA members endures a popular NLSC activity.
The annual championships include more than 100 leadership and skills competitions with thousands of competitors who earn top honors in their respective states.
“It was a very cool experience to see all these students,” he said. “Vo-techs are super underrated.”
Rogienski recalls feeling confident during the national Culinary Arts competition—sizing up the other high school students by how they held their knives. The competitors are evaluated on organization, knife skills, cooking techniques, creative presentation, sanitation and food safety, and the quality and flavor of their prepared items.
Rogienski finished in 2nd place — an accomplishment that cemented his future in the culinary industry.
“SkillsUSA changed my life,” he said.
The podium finish came with a scholarship to the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), a premier and storied college that Rogienski describes as Harry Potter’s Hogwarts, but for aspiring chefs.
“I loved to see how passionate people were when I was at CIA,” he said. “People would get into heated arguments over sauce techniques or breaking down a chicken just because they were that passionate about it.”
After graduating from CIA, Rogienski worked his way up in kitchens across the northeast, earning many accolades along the way. He joined the Tonidandel-Brown Restaurant Group based in Charlotte and spent four years as opening executive chef at Supperland, a restaurant established within a restored church building. The renovation was documented by the owners and evolved into a PBS series that debuted in October 2025. It also features the renovation of Leluia Hall—another historic church-turned-fine dining restaurant.
Rogienski appears in the show, which airs nationally and has created “a little bit of celebrity” for him in the Charlotte area. Add in industry acknowledgments like Supperland appearing in Bon Appetite’s Best New Restaurants list and inclusion in the Michelin Guide and Rogienski has created a career that he’s proud of.
“This would not have been possible without SkillsUSA and my chefs pushing me forward,” he said.
