Chef Nick Carpenter has spent years building a career around great food, hard work, and a willingness to try things a little differently.

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His restaurant journey took shape in Atlanta, Georgia, where he started both a seafood restaurant and a sushi restaurant and developed a cooking style centered around fresh ingredients, bold flavors, and creative combinations. That experience laid the groundwork for what would eventually bring him back to the Greater Birmingham area, where he’s become one of the region’s most recognizable chefs and restaurateurs.

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What started with a love for making really good food has grown into Tuff Love Hospitality, the slightly unruly food family behind Porky’s Pride Smokehouse, Nicky’s Sammie Shack, The Que*Bicle, and Scoop City. Throw in a catering operation capable of feeding everything from a backyard party to a small army, and somewhere along the way Nick accidentally built himself a food empire.

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Each concept does its own thing, but the philosophy stays the same: make great food, use good ingredients, don’t skimp on the flavor, and take care of people.

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Chef Nick works hard, cooks loud, dreams big, and still gets genuinely excited about putting something ridiculous and delicious on a plate.

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And judging by the tattoos, we’re pretty sure there’s no backup career plan.