It was television that first beckoned a young Michael Sibert to explore the wonders of food culture. Hours spent watching cooking shows with his grandmother introduced him at an early age to a world where mouthwatering possibilities could become delicious realities by following her instructions in the kitchen. And there was room for experimentation, too.

“We would get inspiration from the show we were watching, then go in the kitchen and try to re-create that same dish, but with our own touches,” he remembered. “I always admired the creative freedom chefs had on TV. They were like rock stars.”

After years of training at Cornell University and the Culinary Institute of the Carolinas at Greenville Technical College, the one-time fanboy of TV chefs has risen to the ranks of stardom himself. Not only has Chef Sibert appeared on the Food Network and earned accolades for his exceptional culinary talents, but he has been named to the 2024 roster of South Carolina Chef Ambassadors.

"The experience of being on Guy’s Grocery Games has given me the opportunity to represent My State, Greer, My Friends and Family," Sibert said in a release.

Sibert will appear on "Guy's Grocery Games" on Wednesday night at 9 p.m.

Sibert is a graduate from Cornell University and was taught by world renowned chefs in New Orleans.

His first executive-chef position came when he was 22 years old.

"They get to see me break down barriers and help build a bridge of hope in my community for the little boys and girls who were told they weren't good enough to do certain things," Sibert said. "I just want them to know anything is possible and hopefully this experience will continue to give me purpose, and opportunities to make an impact in people’s lives."

Sibert is holding a watch party Wednesday night at the Cartwright Food Hall in Greer.

Michael Sibert, Chef Mike as he is known, owns White Wine and Butter in Greer. Traditional Cajun and Creole flavor combined with high-end food preparation and authenticity are the hallmarks of his unique restaurant concept. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of the Carolinas at Greenville Technical College, Sibert has created his path to success in his career and life by learning, taking risks, staying true to himself, and, oh, making an appearance on the Food Network.

Sibert found an early love of food through the kitchen and cooking experiences shared with his grandparents. All of their family gatherings were centered around food, and with a variety of backgrounds and styles of cooking in the family, his grandparents helped him love it all. His grandmother introduced him to the Food Network. They would watch it all day, and when his grandmother saw something she liked, they went shopping and made it the next day.

“My earliest memory of being in the kitchen is watching my grandfather cook outdoors on his big grey barrel grill and seeing him mopping sauce over different cuts of meat and whole animals, primal style,” says Sibert.

We couldn’t be more thrilled for our friend Mr. Earle. The literal fruits (and greens and vegetables) of his labor have been discovered by numerous local chefs, and we’re lucky enough to have brokered many of those connections. 

His figs, Asian pears, and tomatoes—among many other crop yields—from his Sullivan Street garden have shown up on notable restaurant menus across Greenville County. Now, these burgeoning relationships between farmer and kitchen are taking shape in another form, one that has the opportunity to benefit a broader community.

Introducing: 

Off The Grid Greenville’s Garden to Table Series

Read on to learn more about this new educational, tasty, and FUN event we hosted in early August with OTGG friends and partners from Greenville’s culinary community and beyond.

White Wine & Butter is a new restaurant in downtown Greer at the Cartwright Food Hall. It is the first Black chef-owned restaurant in the city. Chef Michael Sibert is the owner of the business.

The Andrew Jackson, one of the first proper restaurants that was willing to employ me, was on Royal Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans. With its soaring ceilings, thick white tablecloths, glimmering chandeliers and a menu full of classic New Orleans dishes, it was quite the introduction to what a proper restaurant should be. One of our dishes was a pasta redolent with cream, butter, Parmesan cheese, lots of shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico and, of all things, lobster. I’m certain that at the tender age of 19 I’d never seen lobster before. Why would I? South Louisiana chefs already had a menagerie of swimming, crawling and floating stuff that inundated our local menus, so what was the point of using this oddball crustacean from somewhere up north? Our chef informed me I needed to “stick my head out the window every once in a while.”

At Greer’s White Wine & Butter, Chef Michael Sibert, a Greenwood native who spent a few years cooking in New Orleans, must have had the same lesson. He bills White Wine & Butter as a “Cajun Trattoria” and at this diminutive restaurant in the Cartwright Food Hall, proper beignets dusted in sugar rub shoulders with a kale and pickled okra salad. I should point out that a New Orleans beignet is a simple doughnut coated in powdered sugar, and it’s probably the most sought out food in the Crescent City. And Chef Sibert is brave enough to offer up a kale salad on the same menu with fried alligator, a dark and steamy gumbo, and a shrimp po’boy slathered with Creole mustard. Their Royal Street pasta serves up a bowl of supple noodles with a Limoncello butter, fresh herbs, Pecorino cheese and a healthy topping of warm lobster.

He had no idea who he was preparing meals for that night at The Westin Poinsett.

“It was like, super-secretive, whatever was going on,” chef Michael Sibert recalls of the unusual evening at the downtown Greenville hotel in 2013 while he was still enrolled at Greenville Tech’s culinary school.

Something big was cooking, that much he knew. The hotel’s general manager was in the kitchen and the chef was hovering over everything he made as were the Secret Service men, who eyed his every move.

“It was a little weird,” he says. He learned later the guest of honor’s identity: President Barack Obama.

In mid-November, the 30-year-old Greenwood native and his wife of 14 months, Sam Aupied, plan to open White Wine & Butter, their first restaurant. The eatery will take its place among five other vendors operating in Cartwright Food Hall in Greer.

Aupied, whose Cajun surname is pronounced OH-pea-aid, brings to the table her deep roots in New Orleans, where she says her stepfather worked for decades at Clancy’s, the storied 1940s restaurant famed for its Creole cuisine.

That — with a twist — is what you’ll find at White Wine & Butter, a chef-centered operation featuring Sibert, along with two longtime colleagues he refers to as brothers: chefs Troy Arnold and Savalas Barnes. Their combined experience exceeds three decades, Aupied says.

Pasta, of all things, takes center stage at the restaurant named for Sibert’s favorite sauce, a béchamel. One of WW&B’s signature dishes, along with Voodoo Fries, will be PastaLaya, a dish that shows Sibert’s noodling around with jambalaya, the Louisiana rice-shrimp-sausage staple.

Aupied describes their planned menu of fewer than 15 dishes as a mashup of NOLA fine dining and an authentic (read: casual, family-style) Italian trattoria — another nod to her hometown’s mystical culinary stew.

Much of their inspiration, she says, comes from a 150-year-old recipe book passed down to her......

For Chef Michael Sibert, opening his own restaurant has always been a lifelong dream. Two years ago, when the pandemic hit, that dream became a reality when Val King, owner of new Cartwright Food Hall in downtown Greer, approached Sibert about opening a restaurant as part of his venture.

“While so many in the restaurant business were facing unknowns, we were presented with an exciting new opportunity,” says Sibert. “We’re fortunate and still can’t believe how all of this is coming together.”

Located in an 1864 carriage house, Sibert's new dining concept will feature a menu of fresh house-made pasta and Cajun and Creole dishes inspired by time-honored recipes.

Sibert’s says his culinary journey began at home in Greenwood, S.C., where he learned to prepare meals for his working mom by watching the Food Network........

A Greenwood, SC native as well as Cornell and Culinary Institute of the Carolinas Alumni, Michael has been a chef at local high-end establishments for over a decade, he’s also worked with Michelin star chefs, pit-masters, and extensive training with world renowned chefs in New Orleans. Between a decade-long search for knowledge, passion and hard work along with the passed down recipes that his wife gave him for a wedding present, White Wine & Butter was born.

Rooted in private dining and luxury catering he decided he wanted a more approachable and affordable concept for people to enjoy. Being the first Black Chef-Owned concept in Downtown Greer’s history, we are soon to open the first of its kind, a “cajun Trattoria”.

Combining the skills of our Master Pastaio’s fresh pasta making, applying high end food preparation and plating techniques with the traditional cajun & creole flavor profiles to bring Downtown Greer a new restaurant concept to love.......

Chef Michael Sibert watched his grandparents do a lot of cooking while he was growing up. But he never saw them acknowledged for their great recipes or culinary abilities.

“My grandfather basically worked for a lot of people and cooked for them, and never got as much recognition as he should have for all the hard work he did over the years,” Sibert said. “A lot of what I do is in honor my grandfather and grandmother. My grandmother was very well known in the neighborhood for her pastries and cheesecake. She really got me into culinary, as well, just watching Food Network with her all the time.”

Sibert will honor his grandparents in a big way when he opens White Wine & Butter in Cartwright Food Hall in downtown Greer later this year, marking it as what is believed to be the first black chef-owned concept in the area.

“I’ve come up in different establishments – quick service, fine dining, hotels, country clubs – and you don’t see a lot of people that look like me in the kitchen as far as leadership roles,” Sibert said. “Until I met my wife, I didn’t realize I could take it to the next level and do things other than the traditional fried chicken, collard greens and mac-and-cheese. I can do the things I really love which is out-of-the-box cooking, abstract cooking and really using the art of culinary.”

Chef Michael Sibert shows off his culinary skills on Facebook Live with Mill Village Farms. Enjoy the full video by clicking the link below or enjoy this segment on our site.