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[title]Chef G. Garvin believes food can change people’s lives for the better. Throughout his career, the acclaimed chef, author and television host has combined a focus on simple, delicious recipes and ingredients with an emphasis on personal improvement.
At his winning Atlanta restaurant, LowCountry Steak, Garvin infuses a traditional steakhouse with the spirit of new southern cuisine. The restaurant also features subtle nods to some of the renowned kitchens he’s worked in over the years—including the Ritz Carlton–Rancho Mirage and the Four Seasons, Beverly Hills—serving as a capstone of sorts to his impressive career.
“Everything at [LowCountry Steak] is from something I've done. The entire menu is a culmination,” says Garvin. “That was the whole idea—to bring my career into this one space.”
In 2006, his first cookbook Turn Up the Heat with G. Garvin received an American Literacy Award and was nominated for a NAACP Image Award. Since then, he’s published many more cookbooks, appeared on a hit cooking show that ran for seven seasons on TV One and hosted the series Road Trip with G Garvin on the Food Network.
Time Out recently caught up with the busy chef and entrepreneur to talk about his fresh take on southern cuisine, how to keep meals simple and his G. Garvin Culinary Boot Camp, a program geared towards young adults interested in the culinary arts.
You've worked in a lot of different cities with very distinctive culinary profiles. What makes Atlanta distinct from a culinary perspective?
I think that one of the great things about Atlanta is that we've been mostly underrated when it comes to restaurants. Atlanta has really stood on its own in terms of authentic, true American cuisine with some Southern influences. You've got some really great chefs who are doing phenomenal farm-to-table stuff, who are doing some Michelin star-worthy stuff, and it's very multicultural. Atlanta used to be the city of Black and white, but now you've got all sorts of cultures living here. I think that’s reflected in the types of cuisine that you see.
How would you describe new Southern cuisine?
Typically, when you think about southern food, you think about heavy, smothered things—you think about the classics of fried chicken and buttermilk battered things. The way we view it, we've created a traditional steakhouse with some southern influences. So anything you can get at a [traditional steakhouse] you'll get with us, but in addition, you'll get Carolina stone ground shrimp and grits. You'll get homemade doughnut bread pudding, homemade peach cobbler. We have an incredible rosemary chicken that's a nod to my mother. The sauce is built in the pan and it's a traditional brown sauce—not a gravy, but gravy-like. So it just speaks to using southern ingredients in a way that is not so heavy and allows the ingredient integrity to shine.
What kind of feeling do you want people to have when they come into the restaurant?
As soon as you walk in, you can see the bourbon, reddish interior with the dark wood. I want [people] to feel like they're walking into a steakhouse that is not stuffy and that has an American yet Southern feel—from the valet to the host. I want people to feel safe. I want people to feel like they're going to have a really good food experience, but they don't need to be in a suit and tie. I want you to have a Ritz-Carlton-like experience, but in a very comfortable and casual way.
Is there a classic southern meal that’s easy for at-home chef to make?
When you think of a southern dish, shrimp and grits is what comes to mind. In terms of the ability to make the grits, it's fairly easy. The cream, the butter, the cheese, seasoned well, and we sauté the shrimp. We use a crispy bacon and scallions and, say, Parmesan cheese. It’s not a soulful dish, but it is a southern dish, and that's one of the reasons we do it. It’s such an elevated southern dish that’s just so, so good and I love it.
How do you go about sourcing the highest quality ingredients?
The best way to get the best is through contacts and relationships. For me, it's relationships. It's working with small vendors and minority-owned vendors, knowing who's got what and sampling and working with it. It's a weekly process of resourcing and researching. One of the things we're proud of is that we feature Black-owned businesses in the restaurant. If you have a Black-owned business or a minority-owned business, we allow you to come in and sell your product. We typically do it over about two to three months with the vendor. We make it clear that the product is from that vendor—whether it's a cookie or an ice cream or a spice. That's one of the things we love.
As an owner of a steakhouse, do you have any tips for how people can order the perfect steak?
I think that there's two things to that. I think that people who want to order their steaks medium well get a bad wrap. I think if you've got a quality meat and it's prepared the way it should be—whether it's a seared steak or grilled steak—then a medium well steak is as good as a medium rare steak. I think that the way you order it should be determined by the cut of meat—if it's a filet, which is a much thicker cut, versus a New York, which is a thinner cut, or a ribeye, which is a fattier cut. What people should do is order their steak, determine what they like and don't like about it, and then order it a different way the next time. It's like drinking wine.
Speaking of wine, what’s your philosophy when it comes to drink pairings at the restaurant?
One of our proudest partnerships is with Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey, an African-American owned whiskey brand. We worked on a lot of the drinks on our menu that are custom with Uncle Nearest in addition to the standard wine.
Your book Dining In was about creating an elevated sense of fine dining at home. Do you have any go-to tips for elevating an at-home meal to make it feel more special?
Think about the presentation: your plating, your simple sauces—that's what I would say. Elevate your dish in a way that allows you to be creative. A woman could dress beautifully well, but it's not until she puts on her purse bag or her shawl that it makes it an outstanding outfit. So you can put some chicken in a bowl or you could put chicken on a plate and fan it. It's all about presentation.
How do you see your G Garvin Culinary Bootcamp as a way to break down barriers through the culinary arts?
For me, food didn't change my life, it saved my life. And one of the issues that we have now is we just don't have enough African-Americans in positions of authority to create more opportunity. You look at the Food Network and you have maybe one African-American out of seven. And it's not just the fact that they're not on TV, it's the fact that there aren't enough people in positions to get them on TV or to get them into culinary programs. So my goal with my culinary bootcamp is to at least give kids an opportunity to consider culinary arts. If you can't be a rapper, you can't be a baseball player, a basketball player, consider culinary arts because it'll take you all over the world, it will have you meet some of the greatest people in the world. For me, we're all the same at the dinner table.
Do you have anything else coming up soon?
I'm going to be doing what's called G Garvin Live at the Atlanta Symphony Hall on October 22. It is a culinary stage play unlike anything you've seen, with invited guests, music, live, entertainment. So that's one of the things I'm looking forward to for the end of the year.