With a James Beard Foundation Award and a recent Michelin Guide recommendation for his restaurant Miller Union, chef Steven Satterfield is squarely planted among those influencing Atlanta’s culinary scene. His reputation made him the perfect choice to star in the pilot episode of Savannah College of Art and Design Atlanta’s docuseries “chefATL,” which premiered at SCAD TVFest Feb. 9 and has been funded for a full season.
The first episode of the seven-episode docuseries features more than 100 students across nine SCAD degree programs. Students worked on everything from cinematography to sound design and motion graphics.
When considering how best to capture the pride of the city, students looked to the food scene. “Food is such an intimately personal part of culture, and of place specifically,” said Quinn Orear, associate chair of film and television at SCAD. “From Michelin-starred restaurants to food trucks, the series explores Atlanta’s unique identity via its culinary landscape, one chef at a time.”
Satterfield’s leadership in sustainability in the food scene was a factor in his selection. “When looking at topics that we want to explore, food is just the beginning,” Orear said. “Our format of pairing a different host with a different chef each episode allows us to find pairings hinged on a theme that is tangentially related to food.” Author, TV personality and sustainability activist John Gidding is paired with Satterfield in the pilot episode, which is title “Fussy Rustic.”
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Viewers will see Satterfield’s deft hand with food as he plays with the provenance of flavor, showing how the marriage of simple and local ingredients creates harmony. He sends students to a local farmers market to source ingredients to learn how to replicate a Miller Union salad in a kitchen or a dorm room.
Satterfield said he was impressed by SCAD’s Digital Media Center, which is the former home of TV station WXIA. The 60,000-square-foot facility provides students with a real-world studio environment and equipment. “It’s a pretty cool setup and these kids are getting an incredible education in terms of what is needed for real skills to get on set,” said Satterfield. “I think of SCAD as visual arts, fashion and fine arts and didn’t know they had this whole site.”
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
For the pilot, which was shot in November, Satterfield cooked ”whatever was in season at the time … just a colorful table of different things.”
The pilot episode of “chefATL” will be available to stream on YouTube in the coming days. The second episode is set to film soon and will feature chef Deborah VanTrece of Twisted Soul Cookhouse & Pours, Oreatha’s at the Point and La Panarda.
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