Skip Sur La Table for Hone Sharpen’s Raleigh Cooking Classes
My first set of cooking classes were taught by an incredible chef who just opened Hone Sharpen in Downtown Raleigh’s Smoky Hollow!
This is a recap of Cherisse Byers’ Grand Opening for Hone Sharpen in Raleigh, NC.
Hone Sharpen: Culinary Guild & Cooking Classes
At the end of October 2025, Chef Cherisse Byers opened Hone Sharpen, a culinary facility and community for guiding your journey to become a home cook or chef.
Located in the Smoky Hollow district of Downtown Raleigh, Hone Sharpen is home to cooking classes, demonstrations, lectures, a culinary intensive program, and soon, a sandwich shop.
The name is in reference to a chef’s knife.
“[It’s] the most important cook’s tool. Hone Sharpen is a place where you can refine your culinary skills and you can also create them in other areas that are new to you” explains owner Cherisse Byers.
Byers describes how the kitchens inside are inspired by the ones that she used when teaching her previous cooking classes throughout The Triangle.
Pictured above is the Demonstration Kitchen, equipped with a large TV screen near the ceiling so everyone in the room can view the instructor and the kitchen island in real time.
Across from the Demonstration Kitchen is the Culinary Lab commercial kitchen where the culinary intensive will take place.
Byers says that the training program is for people who want to pursue a career in the food industry.
More than eight years ago, I learned the fundamentals of baking after completing Byers’ six-week desserts course.
I wonder if the intensive program will be similar to the classes I took with Byers.
Grand Opening of Hone Sharpen
Byers thanked her many supporters over the years it took to develop this concept before being joined by her husband Mike and their children for the ribbon cutting ceremony.
After the ceremony, the attendees toured the facilities, learned about the culinary background of the staff members and enjoyed freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.
Bites & Frights: An Interactive Halloween Food Tour
The following day, Halloween, I went back to attend a cooking demonstration class.
At the Demonstration Kitchen, we learned about roasting beef bones for beef stock and bone marrow.
Then we sampled the roasted bone marrow with pickled mustard seeds and risotto with salted egg yolk.
How to support Hone Sharpen
Take a cooking class! The facility is equipped for several types of cooking classes for beginners, couples and more advanced cooks.
In November 2025, instructors taught some of the following courses:
- The Ultimate Lasagna Dinner
- Pumpkin Spice, But Make it Savory
- Game Day Winners
- Tour of Italy: Northern Italy
- Culinary Classics: The TV Dinner
- Knife Skills
For special events and celebrations, book a private cooking experience where Byers and her team will curate and lead hands-on and customizable sessions for your group.
For example, team-building events or holiday parties.
Address: 516 N West St, Raleigh, NC 27603
Smoky Hollow in Downtown Raleigh
The Smoky Hollow district is a section of Downtown Raleigh, right off of Capital Blvd.
There are several restaurants and cafes, including Milklab, Midwood Smokehouse and Morelia Gourmet Paletas.
There’s also the Publix grocery store, an urgent care center, a pilates studio, parking and residential apartments.
