- Once upon a time, our producer, Seraphim Smith, used to work at Chef Vivian Howard's esteemed restaurant, the Chef and the Farmer in Kinston.

That restaurant has seen a lot of changes since then, so we thought we'd check back in with Seraphim to learn about Vivian's latest venture, The Counter.

[gentle music] - The Chef and the Farmer in Kinston was the set of an award-winning show on PBS called "A Chef's Life".

And a lot has happened here in the last five years.

Let's sit down with storyteller and chef Vivian Howard to hear about her restaurant's re-imagining and rebirth.

[gentle music] It looks a little bit different over here.

Can you tell me about some of the changes that you've made here at the Chef?

- Yeah, I mean, pretty much everything.

where we are now, this is called The Counter at Chef and the Farmer, and it used to be what we called The Wine Shop.

- [Seraphim] Or The Aquarium.

- Yeah, or the aquarium, yes.

But it was always my favorite part of the building.

It has, like, really, the only natural light.

The wall across from us is this beautiful kind of work of art that is a remnant of previous life in this building.

And then over at the Kitchen Bar, you know, I do these dinners.

I mean, it's kind of the opposite of this.

It's very high touch.

It's seven courses.

I cook all of them and entertain and chat and sign books.

And so, you know, I guess we don't have anything in the middle.

But yeah, this menu is meant to kind of, like, straddle the world of Chef and the Farmer and the world of The Boiler Room a little bit.

- Yeah, I see that.

- [laughs] Yeah, but so we have, you know, one of my favorite things from The Boiler Room was the blueberry barbecue chicken sandwich.

We have a burger, we have a number of big, nice salads over here, and then our seasonal sides are, you know, where I see Chef and the Farmer make its way in a lot.

We have the fried collards that people were crazy for.

This menu, in building it, I really thought mostly about my parents.

- Oh.

- And the fact that at this stage in their life, they end up eating out a lot more than they ever did.

And there aren't a lot of healthful options for them, and so I wanted to have a lot of vegetables on the menu.

I also, I wanted to point out that, you know, this is kind of a little family affair here, because my sister, Lorraine, makes all the cakes.

- Does she?

- Yeah.

And, you know, she was always the cook in my family, and so it was a big surprise that I became, like, the chef.

But she has always loved baking, and she makes the best cakes and cookies, and so, yeah, I've never worked with my sister before, but it's been fun, 'cause I'm in charge.

- Yeah.

[both laughing] How are you engaging the community of Kinston?

- Well, honestly, I reopened this for Kinston.

So many people told me that it left a hole in the community, and they missed my food and our place, and so that's why we're here.

My goal in reopening this was to have it work for everyone who works here, including me.

You know, I think everything has a season, and everything worth doing is worth changing.

And in order for me to work and engage in this, it needed to reflect where I was at at this moment, because I am the person, the thing that will forever be attached to this place.

So, in a way that almost no other restaurant in the world is, because we, you know, filmed a TV show here.

- The Counter at the Chef and Farmer is at 120 West Gordon Street in Kinston, and they're open Thursday through Sunday for lunch and dinner.

To find out more, give them a call at 252-208-2433, or go online to vivianhoward.com.