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.

A James Beard Foundation “Outstanding Chef” Finalist and “Best Chef Southeast” nominee, 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, and changes the menu daily based on back door deliveries from coastal fishers, farmers and foragers.

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, and serves on the North Carolina Fish Consumption Advisory at Duke University.