Chef Kevin Gillespie’s Red Beard Restaurants and Meriwether Companies Form RedWether Collaborative to Help Chefs Get Started in the Biz

Talent and exciting food culture spread across the U.S. The challenge is helping new chefs reach diners so more folks can enjoy the experience. Enter RedWether Collaborative, a partnership between chef Kevin Gillespie’s Red Beard Restaurants and innovative hospitality developers Meriwether Companies that takes the food hall trend to a new level by encouraging chefs to try a new concept or open their first restaurant. In a nutshell, “I have been wanting to help chefs try a new concept or open their first restaurant, and I finally have the right partner to do this,” says Gillespie. “As a restaurateur, I think mostly about food and service. Meriwether thinks about the setting and the overall experiences. Together, we envision a curated, micro-restaurant environment where aspiring entrepreneurs get to take the next step toward their dreams with RedWether as a support structure behind them. It’s a unique hybrid of restaurant and incubator.” Noting that our nation’s progressive food culture extends beyond major cities, RedWether Collaborative is choosing Nashville and Kansas City for initial ventures. The company’s first location is slated to open in Kansas City in mid-2018 with Nashville’s Germantown Union mixed-use development next on the horizon. RedWether will control service and bars inside each space, giving chef tenants the ability to focus on their food without other restaurant and bar burdens. Red Beard Restaurants is the parent company that oversees Atlanta chef, restaurateur, speaker and cookbook author Kevin Gillespie’s food and beverage ventures, including his restaurants Gunshow and Revival, all of his merchandise and Red Beard Special Events, which operates Communion Cantina, his BBQ pop up Terminus City and Gamechanger, opening in August 2017 at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Meriwether Companies is a multi-disciplined, experiential real estate development and investment firm focused on designing distinctive and interesting hospitality and residential projects located in resort communities and select urban settings.

Kevin Gillespie Plants Chef Demo and Cookbook Signing at Peachtree Road Farmers Market May 13

Chef Kevin Gillespie always has new ideas up his sleeve (in addition to his famously colorful tats). Gillespie, of Gunshow, Revival, Communion Cantina, Terminus City and Gamechanger, opening soon at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, leads the 10 a.m. chef demo at the Saturday, May 13 Peachtree Road Farmers Market. His culinary excitement will set mouths watering for more cooking tips to go. No ‘cue quandary here. Buy one of his cookbooks that morning and snag a signature and maybe a splash of barbecue sauce to mark the page. Shop from 8:30 a.m.-noon and enjoy live music by Bailey Diamond.

Season Openers Abound -- New Eateries and New Locations of Local Favorites Welcome Diners this Spring

Open wide and say, “Yum!” to spring’s hefty helping of restaurant openings, both those new to the Atlanta area and additional locations of local favorites.

New on the Scene 

• Brine Seafood Shack sails into Alpharetta’s Avalon retail complex this spring, ferrying boatloads of fine, fresh seafood. The newest venture from Marc Taft’s Southern Fried Hospitality heads seaward from the successful Chicken and the Egg in Marietta. Taft and Brine chef de cuisine David Connolly bridge Southern California beach vibe and Cape Cod classics on a menu brimming with lobster rolls, fish stew, clam fritters, tuna poke, fresh oysters and fish tacos. A rooftop Tiki bar with fans and fire pits draws guests upward. Ground level, a walk-up window will open for takeout as well as offer soft-serve ice cream, milkshakes, cocktails, beer and wine to enjoy while strolling Avalon.

• Dallas, Texas-based Cowboy Chicken gallops into the Atlanta area this summer, turning McDonough (South Point shopping center) and Duluth (Sugarloaf Centre) onto its wood-fire rotisserie chicken. The bold, simple and natural style of “just” chicken, chicken enchiladas and sandwiches, salads with rotisserie chicken and healthy “Wild West” sides center on the art of cooking over a real wood-burning fire. Lassoing a menu of picnic-perfect family packs to go and catering offerings, Cowboy Chicken opens in the nick of time for outdoor concert, pool and party season.

 Favorites Add Locations

• HOBNOB Neighborhood Tavern is opening a second location in Town Brookhaven this May when it moves into the former Smash Kitchen & Bar space. The tavern with Southern flair provides a friendly gathering spot for neighbors, shoppers, moviegoers and those just out for a stroll to sit a spell and enjoy tavern specialties, signature cocktails and bourbons from the extensive selection.

• Willy’s Mexicana Grill will roll -- like its fresh and fabulous burritos -- into Smyrna (2995 Atlanta Road, SE, Suite A-160) and the Northlake area (4076 Lavista Road, Tucker) this spring. Welcome timing for those hungering for Willy’s healthy burritos, tacos and bowls to eat in or carry out to the ballpark, swim meets, tennis matches, concerts or wherever summer’s extra daylight hours lead.

• Taco Mac wings its way into McDonough with an anticipated May opening near South Point shopping center. An Atlanta institution since 1979, Taco Mac is the place to find more than 100 beers on draft, the Southeast’s Original Buffalo wings and 50+ HD TVs for sports viewing.

Stadium Winners

• Gamechanger brings award-winning chef Kevin Gillespie’s fan-fare favorites to Atlanta’s new Mercedes-Benz Stadium (200 concourse western end zone), opening July 2017. Catch craveables and popular dishes such as Gunshow’s famous Joey’s West Coast burger, Revival’s Closed-on-Sunday chicken sandwich and Buffalo pork belly sliders, a hit with Falcons fans. Gillespie plans daily specials and a signature item for each stadium event, be it music or sport. Grab draft beer and sodas at the main station, craft beers at the two satellite beer bars or a citrusy cocktail at an “adult lemonade” stand.

• As a boy, Marc Taft loved watching Braves baseball and eating his grandma’s juicy fried chicken. Now grown, restaurateur Taft is living his dream, opening FEED – Fried Chicken & Such at The Battery Atlanta this spring. Those familiar with Taft’s Chicken and the Egg are already salivating over the made-from-scratch specialties, anticipating buckets of chicken, fried chicken tenders and Nashville hot chicken; Southern favorites of North Carolina catfish, Texas-style country fried steak, meatloaf, braised greens, macaroni and cheese, green beans and fried green tomatoes, as well as healthy options such as grilled chicken and salads. Soft-serve ice cream, milkshakes, pies and other fresh-baked treats satisfy that sweet tooth. FEED will offer fast counter service on game days and a relaxed, full-service dining area for lunch and dinner the rest of the year. Bar beverages can be taken outside restaurant walls to be enjoyed within The Battery complex.  

• Sublime Doughnuts owner Kamal Grant is rolling his chef-crafted sweet treats, both round and shaped, into two outlets within Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Home team’s ahead? Celebrate with an A-Town cream. Opponents score? Guests can make their own touchdown at Sublime for one of the many creative doughnut flavors, fill a box to win points with new seat section friends or opt for Sublime soft-serve ice cream and doughnut sandwiches.