Susan has deep family roots in North Florida, Georgia and Alabama. Susan began cooking while in college at the University of Memphis throwing dinner parties and Wednesday spaghetti nights for friends. After landing her first restaurant job at 22, she knew she found what she wanted to do. Skipping law school, Susan headed to Le Cordon Bleu and received her bachelors in Culinary Management. Since then she has spent years working in different areas of the food and wine industry, before starting her own catering company in Asheville that was geared towards athletes and the outdoor lifestyle.
With much discussion, Susan and her husband Dwight, moved to Bend, Oregon from Asheville, in 2017. As time moved on, she became nostalgic for the foods she grew up eating. After catering weddings and small private events these last few years, she decided to begin looking for a restaurant to open. The space would be full of influences from the south, a gathering for friends, family and the community. Unfortunately COVID hit and Susan needed to take a step back to see what the future was going to hold. While regrouping and spending countless hours trying to figure out what to do next, she decided to move forward with her southern food concept, Cypress Southern Kitchen, to offer a supper club, pop ups around town and limited catering.
Cypress Southern Kitchen offers the foods Susan grew up eating and family recipes. Her Gramma’s pickles, her mom’s smoked chicken, her dad’s love of blackened shrimp with corn succotash, Great Uncle Howard frying the chicken he grabbed from the coop or the different places in the south she has lived and visited throughout the years.
The foods are her memories and a celebration of her life living in the south.
Have a Question?
Email us at cypresssouthernkitchen@gmail.com or fill out the form below and we’ll get right back with you.