taste wv contributors
Chef Paul Smith
FOUNDER
Paul Smith’s deeply ingrained love of both cooking and West Virginia can be traced back to his earliest days — standing alongside his grandfather helping stir the sauce for the large Sunday dinners so common among Italian families who had settled in the coalfields.
From those beginnings, Paul’s passions for food and his Appalachian home have taken him on a culinary journey that he is proud to share with his community. After graduating from Charleston Catholic High School, Chef Paul immersed himself in learning the hospitality industry and the finer points of great cuisine. With his BA from West Virginia State University, he formally trained at New York’s prestigious Culinary Institute of America (graduated with honors) and CIA’s Greystone campus in Napa Valley, California, where he studied pastries and wine and graduated as Valedictorian.
Paul has worked around the country, from The Ritz Carlton Resort in Naples, Florida, to the world-renowned Biltmore Estates in Asheville, North Carolina, to The Windsor Club in Vero Beach, Florida. Taking the tastes and techniques of every stop along his culinary journey he longed to return to his roots and tell these culinary stories through the traditions and flavors of Appalachia. When the Mountain State pulled at his heartstrings, he returned to West Virginia where he served as the Executive Chef at the University of Charleston, and Corporate Chef for Buzz Food Service.
Today, he has multiple restaurants in Charleston, West Virginia’s capital: The Pitch Sports Bar & Grill, and 1010 Bridge Restaurant & Catering, which quickly gained a reputation as one of the state’s premiere dining destinations.
He believes strongly that a rising tide will lift all boats, and has served as an advisor to multiple food and hospitality businesses in West Virginia. Paul’s ultimate vision is to give back to the state he has always considered home through his gifts of great food and warm hospitality.
Chef Paul was named a Semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef of The Southeast Award and became an official nominee the same year and is the first West Virginia chef to receive that honor. He was also named West Virginian of the year in 2023.
In 2024 he was honored again with a nomination for the James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef of The Southeast Award and on June 10th 2024 in a ceremony in Chicago he became West Virginia’s very first James Beard Award winner. He continues to champion West Virginia and his community in all he does, and loves few things more than the way food brings people together.
Josh Baldwin
FOUNDER
Josh Baldwin is a publisher, filmmaker, and musician located in Lewisburg, WV. Born and raised in Huntington, WV, he attended Marshall University where he received a degree in English before moving to Europe to live and work for a year. He returned to receive his master’s degree at UNC-Wilmington before moving to Lewisburg in 2005, where, at 26 years old, he founded the Greenbrier Valley Quarterly, a cultural and lifestyle magazine that is now in its 17th year of publication. He has been awarded the Young Gun award from WV Executive (the youngest to ever receive the honor), and the State Journal’s “40 under 40.” In 2020, he was awarded the Governor’s Awards for The Arts—Individual Leadership Award. He received a number of other recognitions locally and was elected to serve two terms on Lewisburg City Council, as well as being an adjunct English professor for New River Community and Technical College. In 2013 he founded the Lewisburg Literary Festival, where he has brought dozens of renowned authors and filmmakers to Carnegie Hall for intimate interviews and talks, including David Sedaris and Tobias Wolff. He was also part of the group that founded TEDx Lewisburg and the Significant Cinema Series. In 2012, he started working on his first film, The Contender, of which he produced and directed, and won Best Feature Documentary at the WV Filmmakers Festival. In 2016-17, Baldwin produced the short documentary The Flood, winner of Best Short Documentary at WV Filmmakers Fest, and later directed the short Up on Sandusky Ridge, written by award-winning playwright Jonathan Joy. He is also the guitar player and songwriter for the rock bands The Longshots and Deep State. Currently, Baldwin is the owner of Havenbrook Media, a creative agency, and Black Lantern Productions, a video production company, as well as the bar/restaurant Briergarten, all located in Lewisburg, where he lives with his wife, Mary, and their three children—Stella, Piper, and Milo.
Amanda Larch
contributing writer
Amanda Larch is a freelance journalist and editor and a writer for tastewv.com. She is a 2020 graduate of Marshall University, where she majored in journalism and minored in English and women’s studies. She regularly covers the arts, food, features, entertainment, outdoor recreation and more for her home state of West Virginia and beyond. Her hobbies include perusing estate sales and antique stores to expand her collection of vintage glassware. Her caffeine kick of choice is an iced chai latte, and she’s crazy about all things chocolate. When not in the middle of a good book or writing up a storm, she can also be found in her mushroom-themed kitchen baking desserts from scratch, following recipes from vintage Betty Crocker cookbooks. Read some of her work at amandalarchwriter.com.
Candace Nelson
contributing writer
Dawn Nolan
contributing writer
A West Virginia native, Dawn Nolan grew up around the restaurant business, and her first job was at the fast-casual chain, Fazoli’s. After graduating from Marshall University, she started her career in public relations and marketing communications. Later, Dawn was a features reporter for the Charleston Gazette, and later the Charleston Gazette-Mail, where she wrote for the Food, Living and Life & Style sections of the newspaper. She has also been the managing editor at two publishing companies, overseeing a number of magazines, including the previous inception of Taste West Virginia. Dawn continues to be a contributing writer for several local and regional publications. In her free time, she loves taking road trips, is an avid reader, book club leader and escape room enthusiast. Dawn lives in her hometown of Huntington with her pets and is always thinking about her next meal.
Are you interested in joining the team at Taste WV? Follow this link to contact us.