Cook

With 23 years in professional kitchens, Craig Clifton brings experience, creativity, and a deep appreciation for the craft of cooking to Lewes Oyster House. From making fresh pastas and ravioli to artisanally butchering locally sourced meats, Craig is behind many of the thoughtful details that make their way from our kitchen to your table.

Craig’s love of cooking started at home, spending time in the kitchen with his mom.

“Cooking with my mom in the kitchen is what made me fall in love with it.”

After spending the early part of his career cooking in the Harrisburg area, Craig made his way to Delaware “just for a summer.” Nearly 20 years later, he’s still here. Along the way, he helped open several restaurants, including Rose & Crown, Dewey Beach Country Club, and Fable, before joining the Lewes Oyster House team.

For Craig, cooking is about creativity, simplicity, and getting his hands involved in the process.

“I really like getting my hands into things, and being creative, and I like simplicity. Pasta is the epitome of that idea. Butchering I like for the same reasons.”

That philosophy comes through in the work he does behind the scenes at Lewes Oyster House. Craig makes many of the restaurant’s pastas and ravioli by hand and brings the same care and precision to butchering meats in-house. He’s the craftsman behind the Enoch Farms pork loins that become dishes like the Bone-In Pork Chop Milanese featured on the menu today.

Craig’s curiosity extends far beyond the kitchen. When he’s not cooking, you’ll find him traveling, exploring new places, trying new cuisines, experiencing different cultures, fishing, or relaxing by the pool.

Some of his favorite early memories in the kitchen come from cooking with his mom, usually with 1960s Motown playing in the background (she was a big fan of The Big Chill soundtrack). Those moments helped shape the way he thinks about food today.

If Craig could cook for anyone, past or present, it would be General George S. Patton.

His cooking style’s theme song?
“Easy Like Sunday Morning” by Faith No More.

The most unusual thing he’s eaten?
Minke whale in Iceland.

And his kitchen philosophy is simple:
“Put everything back in the place where it belongs.”