CityView Magazine

34 | March/April 2018 everything is from scratch – breakfast, lunch and homemade desserts." Cooking tip: "Fresh is best," Saucier said. "Whenever you do any product when you're cooking, the fresher the food, the fresher the product, it just enhances the flavor." Most popular dish? Saucier said it's probably her chicken marsala. Will you share a recipe? "Well, I would offer my marsala recipe," she said, "but that is one I don't give out. I don't make it like 99 percent of the restaurants in town or out of town. It is not really a gravy. It is not a thick sauce." Beth Shearin-Smith Owner and executive chef at Hilltop House, 1240 Fort Bragg Road, Fayetteville What to expect at Hilltop House: Hilltop House serves French-influenced Southern cuisine in a fine-dining atmosphere in a 1908 Haymount home. Besides lunch and dinner, it's known for its extensive Sunday brunch buffet. A little about her history in the kitchen: As a child, Shearin-Smith spent hours in her grandmother's kitchen, absorbing the ways of down-home southern cooking. She later realized it wasn't so different in purpose from classic French cooking. In both situations, she said, cooks take the food that is available – sometimes scraps or inexpensive cuts or types of meat – and find ways to make it delicious. Mary Saucier, owner and head cook at MaryBill's Café, opened MaryBill's with Billy Parker 10 years ago and became full owner in 2011. Everything at MaryBill's is homemade – breakfast, lunch and homemade desserts. Beth Shearin-Smith, owner and executive chef at Hilltop House, started in the food business about 22 years ago, selling box lunches made at her house. She then ran a deli called What's For Lunch? and, in 2006, entered the world of fine dining by buying Hilltop House.

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