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Chef Scott Clagett

Scott Clagett grew up in Northern Virginia and has been fascinated with high-end dining for as long as he can remember. Scott remembers passing by the famous Auberge Chez Francois in Washington DC as a six-year-old and marveling at the aromas coming from inside.

It could all have been so different. Born in Miami, FL in 1973, Scott was supposed to follow his father’s preferred profession - engineering. But after dropping out of Engineering School at Old Dominion University he instead pursued his passion - cuisine. Having spent his teenage years bussing tables and obtaining whatever experience he could in the restaurant trade, Scott began at the prestigious 1789 restaurant in Georgetown, MD. Many of the staff at 1789 had come through the famous Culinary Institute of America and advised him to do the same.

Enrolling at the CIA in 1994, Scott went back to basics and spent the next two years re-learning every aspect of cooking, from sauces to Patisserie, French to Asian. To this day, his training enables him to identify every ingredient in a dish he tries.

For his externship, Scott spent a year at the Tra Vigne restaurant in Napa Valley cooking beautiful Italian cuisine and studying wines. After graduating, he traveled in Europe for 18 months, eventually ending up on the Greek island of Naxos, where he ran a Mediterranean restaurant for a year. It was in Naxos that he met his wife, Edina, a Hungarian, whom shares his passion for the hospitality business. After Greece, the couple traveled through Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Egypt before returning to the U.S. After just one year, it was back on the road, this time backpacking through Thailand, Laos, Singapore, Indonesia and Nepal and learning about Asian cuisine all the way.

Returning once more to the U.S., Scott worked for various top restaurants in San Francisco, most notably at Campton Place Hotel with Chef Todd Humphries and at Aqua restaurant with Chef Michael Mina. Next, it was off to Boulder, CO to work with Chef James Mazzio - one of Food and Wine Magazine’s 1999 Top 10 Chefs. Taking over from Mazzio after he left, Scott worked his way back to Gerard’s Place, one of the top five restaurants in Washington DC, where he worked with Two-Michelin-Star Chef Gerard Pangaux.

At the age of 26, Scott opened up his first restaurant, Ledges, with his wife Edina in 2000. Ledges eventually closed, six months after 9/11 and Scott decided to take another back packing trip through South America. Upon his return, Scott joined the Myriad Restaurant Group to open up their first restaurant in Washington, DC called 15 RIA.

Looking for a change of scenery and a new challenge, Scott was lured to the Caribbean island of St. Maarten in 2003 to take over the kitchen at the highly-rated Citrus at the Inn in Cupecoy. In 2004, the couple launched their own venture, Terra, a New American Fine Dining restaurant in the smart Maho district. Terra was voted the island’s most romantic dining venue in its first year and in 2005 Scott was part of the team that won the regional “Taste of the Caribbean” Award in Miami - the first time that St. Maarten has won. Since their stint in St. Maarten, Scott and Edina traveled to Asia once again to further dive into the flavours and culture of Thailand, Burma, and Vietnam. Once they returned to the States they moved back to Boulder which is the place they will hang there backpacks for awhile and call home. Scott is scheduled to open up his latest venture, a New American Bistro called Sobo with partner and owner Stephan Frye of Murphy’s Grill.

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