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Kevin Gillespie Gathers His Restaurant Family For Revival
Executive Chef Andreas Müller and General Manager Christy Lee Faircloth Help Gillespie Bring Elevated
Southern Fare and Family-Style Dining to New Decatur Restaurant
ATLANTA (June 1,
2015)– Atlanta-based chef, restaurateur and cookbook author Kevin Gillespie is
bringing Revival to
Decatur in July, but not without the help of executive chef Andreas Müller and general
manager Christy Lee Faircloth. Since Revival will offer a dining experience
that reflects the traditions of Gillespie’s own family, it’s only fitting that
he assemble a team of family-oriented individuals like Müller and
Faircloth to work by his side.
“Andreas
and I have been working together for a long time, and our mutual enthusiasm for
preparing traditional family-style meals with farm-fresh ingredients makes him
perfect for leading the kitchen at Revival,” says Gillespie. “And we all feel
really lucky to have Christy Lee as the matriarch for our front-of-house team;
she’s incredibly family-minded and has developed a lot of close relationships
within the Decatur community.”
Müller grew up
in a very small town in Sweden and, like Gillespie, feels fortunate to have
been so close to his grandparents and other relatives. Food is at the forefront
of his earliest memories, and he recalls foraging for lingonberries, mushrooms
and potatoes as a child. Much like Kevin’s experience with both Appalachian
cuisine and Southern plantation fare growing up, Müller ate very rustic dishes at home
but got a much more polished meal when visiting his grandparents in a different
town. Although they are from very different parts of the world, both Gillespie
and Müller are quite familiar with this blending of rural and refined culinary
influences.
In the kitchen, Müller, who has worked alongside Gillespie at both Woodfire Grill and
Gunshow, will be creating a proper version of the family-style suppers that
Gillespie grew up eating as a child raised in the South. Although the kitchen
at Revival will operate in a much different manner than that of Gunshow where
each “kitchen dude” was responsible for their own dishes, Müller’s flawless communication skills and established relationships with many
small urban farmers will carry over to his new post at Revival.
“I really want to
grow some roots; I want Revival to be part of Decatur for many years to come,” Müller says
of his new role. “It’s very important to me to have a strong
foundation so we’re all standing on something that’s really solid and can grow
with the community. We’ll be setting our standards very high from the start.”
Faircloth,
who is a mother to four children and two stepchildren, grew up with seven
siblings and is often dubbed the “mother hen.” Genuine hospitality and an
appreciation for feeding a large family with simple yet seasonal ingredients
were embedded into Faircloth at a very young age.
Prior to
joining Revival, she spent three years on the service and management teams at Atlanta’s
Rocket Farm Restaurants, including No. 246, St. Cecilia and The El Felix.
Earlier in her career, Faircloth also worked at multiple Decatur restaurants
and built a strong connection to the neighborhood and its family-oriented
residents.
Revival
is located at 129 Church Street in the former Harbour House Pub site in
Decatur. For updates on the restaurant, follow Revival on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Additional information can be found at www.revivaldecatur.com.
About Chef Kevin Gillespie
Chef Kevin Gillespie's true passion lies in incorporating fresh,
organic and sustainable ingredients in all of his dishes. After graduating with
honors from the Art Institute of Atlanta, the Georgia native worked in top
restaurants in Atlanta and Oregon before opening his first restaurant, Gunshow,
in May 2013. In
summer 2015, Gillespie plans to open his second restaurant, Revival, in
Decatur, Georgia, which promises
a fresh take on the traditional, family-style Sunday dinner, with a focus on
farm-raised and artisan-prepared ingredients. Gillespie was one of the three finalists on the sixth season of
Bravo’s “Top Chef” and was voted “fan
favorite.” He was named a 2015 semi-finalist for the James Beard Foundation’s
Best Chef: South award and had been a semi-finalist for the Rising Star Chef of
the Year award for three consecutive years, nominated for Food & Wine’s People’s Best New Chef and named Forbes’ 30 Under 30 for his outstanding
accomplishments in the restaurant industry. As a rising young culinary star who
was bringing more than just good food to the table, Gillespie was named one of
Mother Nature Network’s top “40 Chefs Under 40” in November 2009 for linking
farms to forks and promoting better health for people and the planet. In
February 2010, he was honored as one of Gayot.com’s “Top Five Rising Chefs.” In 2014, Gunshow earned the seventh spot on GQ magazine’s list of “12 Most
Outstanding Restaurants” and was honored as one of 12 restaurants on Esquire magazine’s “Best New Restaurants
of 2014” list. Gillespie released Pure
Pork Awesomeness: Totally Cookable Recipes from Around the World in March
2015, a follow-up cookbook to Fire in My
Belly, which was selected as a James Beard Award Finalist. Gillespie is a
member of Slow Food Atlanta, Southern Foodways Alliance, Chefs Collaborative,
Community Farmers Markets Chefs Advisory Board, Georgia Organics and the
Society for the Preservation of Traditional Southern Barbecue. For more
information, please visit chefkevingillespie.com.
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