In the spring of 2018, Kevin Gillespie, one of Atlanta's most famous and beloved chefs and restaurateurs, was diagnosed with a rare form of renal cancer. But after undergoing a successful procedure to remove a kidney, he's been cancer-free for nearly two years.
Now, in the spring of 2020, Gillespie is fighting a different battle, and like many chefs around the world, he’s working hard to keep his business from going under.
“It’s just hard right now,” Gillespie said one day, while he took a short break from turning out to-go orders at his Decatur Southern-style restaurant Revival. “There’s two of us trying to produce enough stuff to keep the company afloat, while also trying to navigate the legal stuff.
“Obviously we have to come back from this with a bang, so we need to keep pushing in the right direction. We had 200 employees two weeks ago, and now we have two. And I’m not included in that, because I don’t get paid.”
In 2009, Gillespie earned a spot on the Bravo series “Top Chef” for the show’s sixth season in Las Vegas. And he was one of the season’s final three chefs, competing for the “Top Chef” title in Napa Valley, and also was voted “fan favorite” by viewers. Currently, he’s back in the kitchen on the Emmy-winning cooking competition, which returned for its 17th season on March 19 with the title “Top Chef: All-Stars L.A.”
>> RELATED: Kevin Gillespie returns to ‘Top Chef’ March 19 inspired by his cancer recovery
“One of the major reasons for doing it, obviously, is to get people to come in the restaurant, so I’m hoping we get to go back to work soon, and get a little bit of a push from it,” Gillespie said. “Because you lay a lot out on the line, and you deal with a lot of crap for that opportunity. But one of the other major reasons for doing it is for my team, so it gives them the best chance to make a good living.
“People need to understand the fragility of our industry. People laugh and joke that the restaurant business is tough. It’s not tough. It’s damn near impossible. Only a few of us have managed to make it just this side of not impossible for a little while. But something like this really shines a light on what’s broken in our industry. That’s the reality. And it’s a tragic one.”
In 2013, Gillespie opened his signature restaurant, Gunshow, in the Glenwood Park neighborhood of Atlanta. In 2019, he opened Cold Beer, an ambitious two-story, 7,000-square-foot space facing Atlanta’s Eastside Beltline.
As much a bar concept as a food concept, the menu features imaginative seasonal cocktails and wines by the glass. And then there’s the beer list, with 25 offerings curated by Gillespie, and arranged from light and refreshing to complex and strong.
As it turns out, Gillespie is a beer connoisseur. But he’s not a snob. His beer philosophy is wide-ranging, and not necessarily craft beer-correct. He favors everything from Japanese rice lager to German hefeweizen and Belgian farmhouse ales. And his chef’s palate is discerning, if sometimes a bit eccentric when it comes to pairing beer with food.
When I asked Gillespie to come up with a few dishes for a spring meal to enjoy with beer, he reached back for three favorite recipes from his first cookbook, "Fire in My Belly: Real Cooking," and offered a pairing to go with each one.
“I went with stuff from the book because I knew all the ingredients could be purchased at a grocery store, but even then it’s challenging now,” Gillespie said. “I went to the grocery store and I was surprised to get most of it. I have a recipe for salsa brava that calls for fennel pollen, but the easiest thing to do is swap it with ground fennel seed and you end up with a pretty close rendition.
“You can do that with things like peppers, too. And you can find really good frozen on the boat wild salmon at Whole Foods. It’s way better than farm raised, because it has more fat.”
Some of Gillespie’s beer pairings are going to be hard to find, too. But if you look to the style and not the particular beer or brewery, you should be able to get exactly what you need.
And like Gillespie, be adventurous and determined, despite everything.
TO-GO ORDERS
Kevin Gillespie's Revival restaurant (129 Church St., Decatur) offers Family Dinners to go on Tuesdays and Fridays. You can order online at redbeardmerch.com/collections/family-meals. The menu is published the night before at 6 p.m.
RECIPES
These recipes with beer pairings from chef Kevin Gillespie are personal favorites he chose for a spring dinner, with ingredients you might find at markets this season. Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed everything, including farming and fishing, so substitute ingredients as needed, enjoy Gillespie’s enticing descriptions, and drink good beer while you cook.
Crispy Green Beans With Salsa Brava
“I don’t remember where I was, but a group of people took me to an Italian restaurant and someone ordered fritto misto as an appetizer to share,” says Kevin Gillespie in his first cookbook, “Fire in My Belly: Real Cooking.” “It was like every other fritto misto with bits of fried vegetables, fish, and meat. But it had green beans in it. It never occurred to me to fry green beans. I loved it. The green beans changed the texture of the whole dish. They still had snap, like raw green beans. … Salsa brava is the dipping sauce. … It’s one of those sauces that goes with just about everything. But it packs some heat!”
“You see patatas bravas in almost every Spanish tapas restaurant. It’s fried potatoes with spicy tomato sauce,” Gillespie says in “Fire in My Belly: Real Cooking.” “My version of the sauce isn’t traditional but embodies the spirit of brava sauce with plucky, peppery, pungent, fiery flavors. I use raw garlic for pungency, smoked chile powder for fire and smoke, sherry vinegar for acidity, and fennel pollen for floral aroma. It’s good on everything, so make extra.”
Beer pairing: Gillespie chose the rare Beacon of the Abyss Bright Lager from Burial Beer in Asheville, North Carolina, to pair with his Crispy Green Beans With Salsa Brava, but you can try any modern pale lager with grassy and citrusy notes.
“Some people think grilling means throwing any and all food over the hottest possible fire. But you can’t grill fish that way,” says Gillespie in “Fire in My Belly: Real Cooking.” “It burns, dries out, and falls apart. King salmon is pretty forgiving, but it’s such a beautiful, majestic fish that you don’t want to overcook it. For this recipe, you want a hot fire but not a blazing inferno. You also want to let the fish cook undisturbed. A hot grate and a little patience will give you deep grill marks and help prevent sticking.”
Confit Garlic Oil
Sherry Vinegar Reduction
Beer pairing: Gillespie chose Bainbridge Kommuter Kolsch from Washington state to pair with his Grilled Salmon With Rapini. But any light and malty German-style Kolsch will do the trick, including the original import from Cologne, Reissdorf Kolsch.
Fried Bananas With Cilantro and Lime
"For Lent, I usually give up meat, sugar, fun, all the good stuff," Gillespie says in "Fire in My Belly: Real Cooking." "I can eat sugar like a seven-year-old. I can't get enough. This is my cheater dessert for when I'm not supposed to be eating sugar. I take completely ripened, black-skinned bananas, dust them in cornstarch, and deep-fry them. Ripe bananas are already sweet, but when you fry them, the sugar concentrates and goes through the roof. The acidity of the lime and the bitterness of the cilantro balance the sweetness."
Beer pairing: Gillespie likes to pair this fried banana dish with RedBeard De Garde, a limited edition local beer he collaborated on with Wild Heaven Beer in Decatur. But he says other Belgian-style biere de gardes or saisons will work well, too.
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