The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Q&A with chef and restaurateur Chris Hall
His Unsukay restaurant group has seen much success in metro Atlanta.
Chris Hall grew up in Atlanta, where his first job was working at Pizza Hut on Collier Road. Nowadays, Hall is a partner in Unsukay, the restaurant group he helped create with Ryan Turner and Todd Mussman, which now includes Muss & Turner’s, Eleanor’s, Local Three and MTH Pizza. Recently, Hall talked with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Q: When did you get serious about cooking?
A: I went to college at a small liberal arts college in Philadelphia called Haverford, and I got a job at Le Bec-Fin, working for [French chef ] Georges Perrier. I was making $5 an hour, plus you got family meal, which was great. I dropped out of school, much to the chagrin of my parents, and here we are some 30-odd years later.
Q: What are some of the Atlanta restaurants you came up in after that?
A: I did two stints at Canoe. I was there from 1999 to 2004, and I went back in 2008 for a year, and then went to 4th and Swift. But that time at Canoe with Gerry Klaskala and Carvel Grant Gould was really focused. It was the first time I got into management, and that was really good for me.
Q: When did you meet Mussman and Turner?
A: We officially met at the kickoff meeting for the first Taste of
Atlanta. I told them how much I loved their place, and how I wanted to do something of my own. I asked if they would get together and have a beer and talk about it. That turned into an incredible partnership and friendship that’s lasted for 15 years now.
You went on to open Local Three as your first project together. How has the partnership worked since?
Q:
A: It’s been interesting. We’ve tried several different ways to do this. Now we’ve evolved to the point that we each have things we’re in charge of, but we’re not as involved in the day-to-day as we were.
On the downside, you ended up closing Common
Q:
Quarter, and later a second Muss & Turner’s in east Cobb.
A: It was very difficult emotionally and financially, but it was the right decision, and we learned a lot from it. We thought it was a great space, but it just didn’t work in east Cobb.
Q: On the other hand, MTH Pizza is sort of a return to your roots, and it has been very successful.
A: It has been great. And, it has been a tremendously fun collaboration between the three of us. I always wanted to do a pizza place, to come full circle. And Todd is such a food savant, when he grabs on to something, he’s all in.
Q: The Muss & Turner’s and
Unsukay team helped found the Giving Kitchen, the second organization to receive the James Beard Humanitarian of the Year award. Recently, you decided to step down.
A: I am going to step away from the board. I was a founder and vice chair. It has been the most fulfilling thing I’ve ever done. I know I can speak for Todd and Ryan when I say that this is the legacy that we want to leave. I’ll never not be involved, but I think it’s time for some new blood, and time for some new people to take over.
Q: You have a new project on the horizon, Roshambo, that’s set to open in the Peachtree Battle Shopping Center in late summer. What can you report about that? A: Roshambo is the name for rock, paper, scissors. And this is a return for me to another one of my stomping grounds. We lived down the street at Peachtree Battle, so I’ve always wanted to do something in that shopping center. What I remember the space as, was Jim White’s Half Shell.
We wanted to do something that’s kind of a modern version of a diner. Instead of rock, paper, scissors, it’s breakfast, lunch, dinner. You’ll be able to get all those things at all three meals. You can get breakfast at 8 at night, or a big bone-in ribeye at 8 in the morning.
But it’s not going to be traditional. It’s our take on a 21st century diner, which means there’s a level of the eclectic and a level of curation. One of our rules is that we want to open places that our families would want to go eat at. This will be that.