Local Flavor

LOCAL FLAVOR EAT, STAY, LOVE

Brian and Tiffany Lombard’s love story merges food, hospitality—and learning to expect the unexpected

BY TAYLOR BOWLER

PHOTOGRAPHS BY BELLA LUX PHOTOGRAPHY

The raspberry lemon wedding cake (top) by Celestial Cakery doubled as their gender reveal for their baby. Passed hors d’oeuvres included General Tso cauliflower bites (above). AS EXECUTIVE CHEF at Foxcro Wine Co. in Dilworth, Brian Lombard slings tru e fries, grilled octopus, and gourmet atbreads ve nights a week. Across town at Canopy by Hilton Charlotte in SouthPark, wife Ti any oversees all day-to-day operations at the hotel. Before COVID, they hosted frequent dinner parties and dropbys from friends at their SouthPark apartment. Hosting people, even when they haven’t made plans and guests haven’t made reservations, is what they do.

“Whatever beverage you need or love, we’ll have because we took note the last time we hung out,” Brian says. “If you’re a gin or vodka person, we’ll have that. It’s in our nature to take care of folks.”

The ability to adapt is mandatory when you work in hospitality, and it’s shaped the Lombards’ relationship, too. They met in 2014 at the Phelps Hotel in Cincinnati, where Brian, now 40, was a chef and Ti any, 30, was food and beverage manager. “It was a rocky working relationship,” Ti any says with a laugh.

“We’re both Scorpios, so it was clashing personalities,” Brian adds. “But once we learned the way the other works, we got along a little better, then became good friends.”

They zigzagged across the country for the next few years before they settled in Charlotte. Ti any’s career took her to Marriott and Hilton properties in Clearwater, Florida, and New York City while Brian accepted a chef position in Austin, Texas. But they kept in touch and visited when they could. In late 2018, Ti any moved to Portland, Oregon, to open another Hilton property and o ered Brian a role as chef consultant. “So I moved out there and thought, ‘We’ll see what happens,’” Brian says. “And we moved in together.”

Six months later, Canopy by Hilton Charlotte o ered Ti any the general