Sous Chef Cassidee Dabney Bio

Cassidee spent most of her childhood summers in the family garden, where she anchored her palate with the bold flavors of seasonal ingredients picked at their most expressive moments. But some years would pass before she chose to make food her profession. Cassidee enrolled at the University of Arkansas as a physical anthropology major. But she soon turned to the New England Culinary Institute in search of something more fulfilling, and she never looked back.

After graduating, Cassidee began a seven year tour that took her through four different five-star and five-diamond Four Seasons Hotel properties: Atlanta, the Grand Walalai in Hawaii, the Four Seasons Boston and the Four Seasons in Jackson Hole, Wyoming as a member of the opening team. She then joined John Fleer at the impeccable Blackberry Farm, a Relais en Chateaux/Relais Gourmand culinary nirvana that brought her back to her formative beginnings in the garden.

It would only be a couple of years before she came home to Arkansas to join Lee Richardson. She spearheaded the development of the hotel’s private dining operation, and now influences Ashley’s with her feminine takes on the traditionally rustic and masculine fare of our region. Wait till you see what she does with a carrot and raisin salad!