Dean Neff

Photo Credit: Baxter Miller

NC Catch Chef Ambassador Dean Neff is the owner and chef of Seabird – the sustainable seafood restaurant and oyster bar devoted to celebrating North Carolina’s coast, as well as the new owner of Wilmington’s oldest seafood market – Zora’s Market & Kitchen.

Neff opened Seabird in Spring 2021 as his first solo venture with wife Lydia Clopton; in 2024, he took the reins at Zora’s Market & Kitchen. At Seabird, Neff offers “Seabirdie” oysters farmed by Holdfast Oyster Co. exclusively for Seabird. He changes the menu daily based on back door deliveries from coastal fishers, farmers, and foragers. 

Press accolades:  Eater calls it “Essential” and named it the “Beach Restaurant of the Year.” Reader’s Digest, Hemispheres, The Local Palate and Garden & Gun praise it as one of THE reasons to visit Wilmington today; the Wall Street Journal and BuzzFeed’s “Worth It” have celebrated Seabird’s locally focused seafood tower and overall commitment to sustainable seafood. 

Neff is an outspoken champion of North Carolina’s Oyster Trail, a regional council member for the Food Bank of Central and Eastern NC, serves on the North Carolina Fish Consumption Advisory at Duke University, and as of 2025 a NC Catch Chef Ambassador.

Chef Neff was a James Beard Award Finalist for Outstanding Chef in 2024 and Nominee for Best Chef: Southeast in 2023.

Follow Chef Neff on Instagram @ChefDeanNeff and @SeabirdNC

Follow and visit Seabird and visit Zora’s Market & Kitchen.