A chef familiar to the culinary team at Kevin Gillespie’s restaurant Gunshow has been tapped to helm the eatery’s kitchen.
Chris McCord, who has served as sous chef at Gunshow since 2015, will take over as chef de cuisine after executive chef Joey Ward's departs to open his own concept in Poncey-Highland on Feb. 9.
“It’s been exciting to watch Chris’ creative growth as a chef over the past three years here at Gunshow,” Gillespie said in a prepared statement. “He has become a great leader and is more than ready to take over the kitchen. This will be a seamless transition because Chris is already such a critical part of the team.”
Before that, McCord worked at French restaurant F&B in Buckhead, and the now-shuttered Ink & Elm in Emory Village and The Globe in Midtown. He attended culinary school at the Art Institute of Atlanta, where he was a year behind Gillespie.
“I remember watching Kevin chop garlic with a paring knife and trying to figure out how he worked the blade so quickly and efficiently,” McCord said in a press release. “To this day, Kevin is still teaching me new things every time we’re in the kitchen together.”
As chef de cuisine, McCord will the responsible for the back of house operations and the menu, and a new general manager will run the front of the house operations. The restaurant will no longer use the executive chef title, according to Gillespie.
Gunshow has racked up plenty of accolades since it opened in 2013 in Glenwood Park, including being named to Esquire's list of Best New Restaurants and the National Eater 38. Gillespie has also been named as a James Beard Award finalist in the Best Chef: Southeast category in 2016. He was also a finalist for a James Beard Award in 2013 in the Cookbook: American Cooking category for his debut cookbook, "Fire in my Belly."
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