Born in New York City and raised in Ohio, New Hampshire and Virginia, Chef Andrew Evans developed a passion for food and travel at an early age. As a child he accompanied his mother and brother on excursions to Amsterdam, France, Spain, Lebanon and Morocco. Taught from childhood to be curious about the world and about food, Evans received a BA degree in Far Eastern Religious Studies from the University of Virginia and later attended the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in New York.

While at the CIA, Evans was a contributing writer for the school's newspaper and an active member of the Gourmet Club, Small Business Club and Wine Club. He also worked as a line cook at the nearby Old Drover's Inn, a Relais & Chateaux property.

After graduating from the CIA with honors in 1993, Evans pursued his dream of cooking and traveling. He was sponsored by The Restaurant and Caterer's Association of Queensland, Australia to move to Brisbane, Australia, for one year to participate in a cultural exchange program while working in five different restaurants. That led to his seeking other sponsorships that allowed him to work as a line cook and chef de cuisine for many top Brisbane restaurants, including the Green Papaya restaurant, which was voted Best Vietnamese Restaurant in Australia by Australian Gourmet Traveler magazine. While Down Under, Evans indulged his passion for travel by making Asian forays to such neighboring countries as Thailand, Japan, China, Vietnam and Hong Kong, where he explored their local food stalls and markets, eating extensively to develop his palate and taste memory. At the end of seven years, Evans felt he had come to fully understand Australia’s food culture.

Because Evans had always yearned to own and manage his own small inn and fine dining restaurant, he settled in the historic town of Easton, Maryland, on the Eastern Shore in 1999. There he purchased and fully renovated an historic 1790 mansion in the heart of downtown Easton. He transformed it into a contemporary boutique hotel with four suites, three guest rooms and a 45-seat restaurant. The Inn at Easton welcomed its first guest in June 2000. As Evans structured it, the menu at The Inn at Easton was modern Australian, and Evans used the bounty of the local Chesapeake Bay and neighboring organic farmers to showcase his dishes.

Andrew Evans currently balances his time managing his latest restaurant venture, writing a food column called Andrew's Kitchen for Chesapeake Life and Baltimore Style magazines, providing private chef catering for families, teaching cooking lessons at Whole Foods supermarket, consulting for the Australian government (Austrade) and being the primary care giver to his two daughters, Gabrielle and Lilly.

Accolades
Chef Andrew’s culinary vision earned The Inn at Easton recognition from Food & Wine magazine, where the restaurant made the top 50 hotel restaurants list in both 2002 and 2003. The Inn’s restaurant also received an excellent review from The Washington Post's food critic Tom Sietsema and was named in the newspaper’s annual “Dining Guide” in 2003/2004/2005/2006/2007 with three stars and selected as an “editor’s pick.” Sietsema also nominated Chef Andrew Evans for the James Beard “Best Mid-Atlantic Chef” for 2004. Chef Evans won the Mid-Atlantic Pork competition in 2003 and the Mid-Atlantic crab cake competition in 2007.

National Geographic Traveler Magazine featured the Inn in their “101 great food and travel experiences issue” and it has been featured in Southern Living and Travel & Leisure magazines, among others. In February 2004, the editors of Southern Living selected the Inn at Easton as one of their 10 favorite romantic restaurants in America. The Washingtonian included the Inn in their 2006 top 100 list of restaurants for DC, Maryland and Virginia. In 2007, the Washingtonian ranked The Inn at Easton 16th out of the 100 of the best restaurants in DC, Maryland and Virginia. Evans was also featured on the cover of the Washingtonian for the 2007 issue of rising star chefs. His most celebrated review came from the late Johnny Apple, who featured the Inn’s restaurant in a full length article on the front page of the New York Times food section.