FAMILY-STYLE DINING EXPERIENCES A REVIVAL AT THE HANDS OF CHEF KEVIN GILLESPIE

FAMILY-STYLE DINING EXPERIENCES A REVIVAL AT THE HANDS OF CHEF KEVIN GILLESPIE

Gillespie Invites Guests into His Childhood with Elevated Southern Fare and a

Gathering Place as Good as Grandma’s at New Decatur Restaurant

 

ATLANTA (April 22, 2015)–Kevin Gillespie, Atlanta-based chef, restaurateur, cookbook author and owner of famed Glenwood Park restaurant Gunshow, is bringing his next dining creation, Revival, to Decatur in July. The restaurant will be a nod to Gillespie’s formative years, offering a proper version of the traditional Sunday dinner served family-style and executed with his precise techniques. Following Gillespie’s allegiance to Southern cuisine, Revival will focus on farm-fresh ingredients and a dining experience that reflects the traditions his own family follows.

 

“I always come back to the types of meals I ate as a child and the significant role that gathering together for family suppers played in my life as I was growing up,” says Gillespie of his inspiration for Revival. “The culinary traditions of the South have always influenced my cooking, but I sense the family-style way of dining is slipping away from us. I want to resurrect the importance of sitting down and truly sharing a meal with loved ones by bringing the graciousness of this experience to Atlanta diners.”

 

Gillespie’s menus at Revival will mimic what one would find at his grandmother’s house – a classic, Southern spread featuring seasonal options that change daily – but will feature more refined techniques and the highest quality ingredients. “Atlanta is the hub of the Appalachian and the high plantation South. We have a unique version of Southern cuisine here because of the blending of those two influences. My family is half plantation and half mountain people, so the food I grew up with was really both. And that’s what we will have at Revival,” Gillespie said.

 

Andreas Müller has been named executive chef of Revival, and shares Gillespie’s passion for combining farm-fresh ingredients with traditional family favorites. Müller previously served alongside Gillespie as “kitchen dude” at Gunshow.

 

Dinner service at Revival, dubbed “full supper”, will include entrées like the following:

• Pastured Georgia chicken based in sweet onions and golden raisins
• Smoke-roasted mountain trout stuffed with cornbread and green onions
• Georgia white shrimp and Terminus City sausage in roasted tomato gravy
• Country fried grass-fed beef round steak with skillet pan gravy

 

These entrées will be served with the Gillespie family puffy cornbread and four to six sides such as fatback-fried silver queen corn, roasted heirloom baby tomatoes with spicy pepper relish, old-fashioned creamed potatoes, fresh field peas and baby carrots in sweet cream butter and dill.

 

Lunch at Revival will offer dishes similar to those in the dinner selection but will be served à la carte and will include sandwiches and salads.

 

“The classic Southern dishes themselves are still relevant to me, but I want to pay homage to my past by executing these dishes at the highest possible level,” says Gillespie of how he will reinterpret the food from his childhood at Revival.

 

Gillespie likens his restaurants to the different facets of his personality. “Gunshow is the modern, brash side of me, while Revival is the more genteel, introspective side,” he says.

 

The restaurant’s patio space will eventually house an outdoor bar called Communion that is slated to open by early fall. It will be Gillespie’s take on a Viennese wine garden and will offer another opportunity for guests to sit down together and interact.

 

Revival is located at 129 Church Street in the former Harbour House Pub site in Decatur, which was once a house and will be restored as closely as possible to its original condition for a truly charming and “homey” atmosphere. The revitalized space will feature trey ceilings, crown molding, fireplaces, mixed metal and wood accents and an antique blue and white color palette reminiscent of grandmother’s china. The restaurant, which seats 100, will also have a lush garden in the front and a spacious back yard, much like the ideal Southern home.

 

Gillespie sees the community-focused nature of Decatur as a perfect fit for Revival. “I admire the way residents of Decatur support their local establishments.”

 

For updates on the restaurant, follow Revival on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Additional information can also 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. Gillespie was one of the final three cheftestants on the sixth season of Bravo’s “Top Chef” and was voted “fan favorite.” He has been named a semi-finalist for the James Beard Foundation’s 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 February 2014, Gunshow earned the seventh spot on GQ magazine’s list of “12 Most Outstanding Restaurants” and in October 2014, Gunshow was honored as one of 12 restaurants on Esquire’s “Best New Restaurants of 2014” list.Gillespie is set to release Pure Pork Awesomeness: Totally Cookable Recipes from Around the Worldon March 31, 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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