Meet General Lewis

We all know there’s nothing like mom’s home cooking, and that is exactly where Chef General Lewis got his start, passion and desire for impeccable culinary capabilities; at home with his mother. 

Chef General studied at Tallahassee Community College in Tallahassee, Florida. It was there that he fine tuned his skills and learned techniques that he would carry with him throughout his career. After graduating, Chef General came back up North and made the Laurel Creek Country Club in Mount Laurel, New Jersey his new “home”. Laurel Creek is where he began to put all of his accumulated knowledge into action; he dabbled in American and French cuisine for a little over three years. 

Now that there was a new notch in his belt, Chef General decided to make his way to “the Big City”, Atlantic City, where he was bestowed the responsibility of being appointed the head chef of the high rollers’ Diamond Club at Bally’s Casino. The pressure was great because he had to uphold a standard of above and beyond customer service and satisfaction for one of the most important groups of clientele in the Harrah’s organization. He not only welcomed the challenge, but superseded it with flying colors. When he decided to participate in a “Chef’s Challenge” at Bally’s Casino, he WOWED not only his peers, but the judges by creating a menu out of a limited choice list…who knew RABBITS had “chops”? Chef General did, and it won him top honors in the contest!! 

Despite the love Chef General had come to have for the casino, he wanted to venture out to a major city where he could expand his menu and create his own niche; that opportunity was afforded to him in early 2008 when he was appointed as the head chef at J.L. Sullivan’s Restaurant and Sports Lounge in the heart of center city Philadelphia right at the beginning of the infamous Rittenhouse square. He was featured in Philadelphia’s “Dining Out” magazine, because although it was a sports lounge, the cuisine coming out of the kitchen could compete with any restaurant on Broad Street. During one of the famous Philadelphia “Restaurant Week” extravaganzas, Philadelphia’s own Bynum Brothers had the opportunity of sampling Chef General’s Restaurant Week menu and were so impressed, they extended an invitation to him to become the head Chef of one of Philadelphia’s most popular restaurants, Warmdaddy’s. Together with the Bynum Brothers, they extended the menu to the next level. 

Always looking for his “next great adventure” to expand and grow, Chef got the itch and desire to venture out on his own, but the opportunities in Philadelphia were limited since the restaurant scene was an extremely challenging one to break into from ALL perspectives. Small restaurant businesses in Philadelphia face quite a bit of adversity getting started, making a mark, and lasting through the initial trials and tribulations of opening a new restaurant. Never the one to let ANYTHING deter his goals, he did his research and discovered the vast and favorable circumstances for small businesses in the state of Virginia. As opposed to jumping right into a free-standing restaurant, Chef soon encountered the concepts of city contract businesses. It was a good way to get his feet wet, gain valuable knowledge and learn the inner workings of the “Sister Cities”. The first contract Chef acquired was in May 2013 in the human resources building of Newport News. The James River Café serviced 100+ city employees as well as being open to the public. This café then afforded him the chance to go after his next city contract. The Garden Grill came to be in February 2014 in the basement of the City Hall building in Newport News. Working so closely with the city, Chef was sought after to do events such as the VIP tent for the “One City Marathon” every year since commencing in 2015, serving City Council Dinner every second and 

fourth Tuesday of the month, private events for the mayor and City Manager, and numerous other receptions. Being in the right place at the right time got Chef into Ferguson Enterprises as one of their three preferred caterers for all their executive officers. After hosting several events for Ferguson at The Virginia Air and Space Museum, he was asked to become one of the three preferred caterers for the museum as well. 

Now that he had found his niche, he decided it was time to make his way “across the pond”, so he went after the city contract for the café in Nauticus Museum…you guessed it! He got it and so Dockside Café came to be in June of 2015. Spreading himself around and becoming so exposed in different cities, Chef General decided it was time to make the big jump and go for the gusto…time to own his own!! The possibility of a restaurant came to be in the summer of 2018, and on March 15, 2019, The General Public opened its doors in downtown Suffolk on Washington Ave for the first time. He hoped for the best and put his blood, sweat and tears in it to make it happen, but never did he imagine The General Public would be received so well; it was humbling to him that so many people not only loved his food, but truly APPRECIATED the thought, energy and care that went into every entrée that is on the menu and comes out of the kitchen. The 4.9 stars on 120+ reviews blew him away and made it all worthwhile. Most people would figure this is the peak of satisfaction and would be thrilled to have gone THIS far. Chef General Lewis sees this as “just the beginning of greater things to come…” 

Chef General’s love of quality and unique dining (don’t forget those rabbit chops), along with a drive to make everything fresh and from scratch (flavorful but not overpowering), have taken him very far in his career. He has strived to not fall into a “cookie cutter cook” image, but rather combine the early teachings of mom and the technical teachings of school into the outstanding, avant garde Chef that he has come to be thus far. Whether it be taking something that everyone loves and giving it an unheard of twist, or taking something that we’ve never thought about and making it irresistible, Chef General Lewis’ ideas and creation have pleased beyond expectation and left most people wanting and waiting for more! He came up with rabbit chops…what else needs to be said?