Chefs from diverse backgrounds
The Travelling Cafe's services are designed with a global experience in mind for residential and commercial clients in the NC Triangle.
Meet the Chefs of The Travelling Cafe
We are a Collective of Personal and Private Chefs from various backgrounds, trained and ready to bring an incredible culinary experience to your home!
Leslie Chartier
Leslie (Shar-tee-yay) is the owner and founder of The Travelling Café. Culinary instructor, hospitality manager, singer, poet, former restauranteur, avid traveller and lover of diversity, her first passion is unabashed gratitude to God for all his gifts (especially food).
Her second passion is cooking and sharing her knowledge of global cuisines with anyone curious enough to listen. Her gift is being able to translate those cuisines into limiting diet structures so that anyone with food allergies or health conditions can still enjoy the food of the world to its fullest.
Crene Manishimwe
Crene is a chef originally from East Africa, born in Tanzania to Burundian parents. Crene's passion for food began in a small kitchen alongside both parents, learning early on how cooking can bring people together and tell a story.
When the family came to the United States in 2007, Crene didn't know any English. Learning English through ESL classes meant meeting people from many different countries, and they often communicated through food. That experience sparked a love of cuisines from other cultures and showed how food can transcend language and background.
Crene studied Culinary Arts at Johnson & Wales University, with hands-on experience in stadiums, food trucks and catering, then worked at a country club focusing on weddings and banquets, and most recently as a corporate chef providing healthy, well-balanced meals. Crene's approach to cooking is rooted in the belief that food is a universal language, one that connects people, honors culture and creates meaningful shared experiences.
"Leslie and Crene crushed it! I engaged them last minute and they pulled off a delicious, flawless, and professional meal experience. Kitchen was spotless. I am blown away and will be using them again!"
– Alex B., Google review
Bruce Pressey
Chef Bruce Pressey attended Le Cordon Bleu in France after receiving his BA at the University of Pittsburgh. He has spent decades in professional kitchens across many disciplines. After becoming a father while working in California, he chose to be a stay-at-home Dad to raise his two children. During that time, he became a self-taught baker and mastered many ethnic cuisines, amassing a giant cookbook collection and entertaining friends and colleagues over the dinner table.
Chef Bruce's professional training and years of experience have culminated into his current love: teaching cooking classes concentrating on technique, developing a passion in others for cooking and eating, and keeping a sense of humor in the process!
"Chef Bruce does an amazing job of juggling so many different dishes. I always enjoy his "ADD INS"!"
– Randy B., Google review
Kim Calaway
Kim has a rich culinary background. Nine years spent in Germany sparked her culinary curiosity as she traveled throughout Europe. Returning stateside, a career with Pampered Chef led to an hors d'oeuvres style catering business. Then after fifteen years in the nonprofit world, she returned to the comfort of food to work with Southern Season Cooking School in Chapel Hill, NC as the manager and instructor where she enjoyed working with notable chefs, authors and food business owners.
Rounding out her culinary experience with a multi-year position as a private sorority chef, Kim is now one of the chefs of The Travelling Cafe.
"Kim and her assistant were great and the food was absolutely delicious. ... Kim and her team were prompt, informative and the kitchen was spotless when they left. Highly recommend!"
– Cecelia S., Google review
Denzell Berry
Since earning a culinary degree from Le Cordon Bleu Chicago, Denzell has honed his craft in restaurants, resorts, hotels and bakeries from Illinois to North Carolina. While building out his own culinary business, Savoir Personal Chef Services, Denzell is serving our clients with heart and passion. His vast culinary skills translate into exciting culinary experiences for clients - both in receiving his food and learning to cook alongside him.
Outside the kitchen, Denzell is a family man, and is passionate about Chinese culture as a student of both the Mandarin language and the discipline of Kung Fu.
Ellen Clevenger-Firley
Ellen Clevenger-Firley is a Registered Dietitian with an advanced degree in nutritional biochemistry and a Culinary Institute of America trained chef. With more than 40 years of work experience in clinical nutrition, nutrition education and research, she is a passionate believer that healthy food should taste good and be fun and easy to prepare.
Luis Feher
A few years ago, this Venezuelan gentleman walked into our commissary kitchen. He needed help to sell his specialty, paella. Once he paid the required commissary deposit in silver coins, I knew he had a story. I can definitely call Luis Feher my friend.
Luis was born and raised in Venezuela to Hungarian parents and grandparents. A Salt-of-the-Earth, Jack-of-all-Trades, Luis was once chef and owner of an Italian Panettone factory, for which he built all the equipment (including the ovens) except the commercial mixers. A long-time Pittsboro resident, he and his wife now own a small farm in Chatham County. And on that farm they have chickens, turkeys, goats, a peacock, and a very large cow who thinks it's a dog and often tries to “nuzzle” Luis, only to knock him over, in which he finds no humor (though I must admit that I do).
Luis has amazing cultural experience, culinary knowledge and talent, but he's also a real person with a story to tell. He is known for his Hungarian and Latin-based cuisine classes (and Panettone!).
Maggie Radzwiller
No matter what the diet or global cuisine requested, Maggie brings depth of experience to our collective. You may remember Maggie as one of the original owners of POP's and also Brightleaf 905, which was voted one of the best new restaurants in America. She opened some of the most iconic restaurants across the country, but Durham has been home for most of her life. Maggie also runs her own company, Comfort Cuisine.
Maggie specializes in ethnic foods, vegetarian and vegan cuisine, and has over 20 years of nutritional expertise related to health challenges such as working with cancer patients, hypertension, GI, inflammation and cholesterol. Her vegan, gluten-free line, Maggie's Conscious Vegan Cuisine, was carried at Whole Foods and Wegmans.
She has been recognized in The New York Times, Southern Living, Esquire Magazine, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, USA Today, Duke Magazine, The News & Observer, The Durham Herald and The Independent Weekly.
Caitlin Burke
Caitlin Burke has a professional background in advocating for and supporting environmental health and community well-being. Most recently, she was a Program Officer at the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, managing the foundation’s environmental grantmaking in North Carolina. Prior to that, she spent six years at Conservation Trust for North Carolina, overseeing the organization’s service programs, and managing collaborative projects including sourcewater protection, farmland conservation, and climate change efforts. She has taught classes at NC State and Duke University.
Caitlin’s environmental studies sparked her interest in local, sustainable agriculture and food. As she visited farmers’ markets and joined CSA’s, her passion for cooking seasonal bounty grew. While in graduate school at NC State University, Caitlin began volunteering and eventually teaching at The Cooking School at Southern Season in Chapel Hill. She brought her teaching skills and joy of home-cooking to the school, focusing on fresh, local ingredients, vegetarian cooking, ethnic cuisines, and baking.
Stefanie Prokopiou Boisvert
Stefanie is a Registered Dietitian who believes sustainable healthy eating behaviors begin in the kitchen. Being Greek and Filipino, her recipes are often inspired by meals with herbs and Mediterranean flavors. Stefanie also runs her own company, Balance Your 5.
"We all had a great time learning techniques from Leslie, Stefanie, and Chef Bruce, and sampling the fruits of our class' collective labors."
– Valerie S., Google review
Personalized Service Through Personal Chef Services
Enrich yourself with convenience, health, and flavor.
Extraordinary Experiences
The food experiences, cultural immersion, and cooking classes created by The Travelling Cafe are designed to transport you to the place from which they come.
Our goal is to provide unforgettable experiences for you and all your guests.
Our Core Values
Our most closely held beliefs guide our behaviors, show who we are, and indicate what’s important to us. At The Traveling Cafe, we’re driven by values and it shows up in our food and level of service.
- Passion: We love what we do and put everything into it
- Imagination: We have fun and promote creativity
- Caring: We care for our team, you, and guests
Gift Cards For Chef Prepared Meals and Private Cooking Classes
Gift cards to personal chef prepared meals or cooking classes can make the perfect gift for any occasion.
Why The Travelling Cafe?
Our speciality is bringing inclusion into culinary experiences with food for different diets, restrictions, and cultures.
- Experienced and certified
- Trained for special diets
- Culturally enriched
Locations We Serve
- Apex
- Carrboro
- Cary
- Chapel Hill
- Durham
- Hillsborough
- Pittsboro
- Raleigh