Kevin Gillespie (born September 30, 1982) is an American chef, author and former ''

Top Chef ''Top Chef'' is an American reality competition television series which premiered on Bravo in March 2006. The show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges. The contestants are judged by a panel of professional chefs ...

'' contestant. He is a former co-owner and executive chef at Woodfire Grill in Atlanta. He opened Gunshow, a restaurant in Atlanta, in 2013 and Revival, a restaurant in Decatur, Georgia, in 2015. Gillespie also started Red Beard Restaurants, allowing Gillespie to expand and provide consulting services to other start-ups. Kevin Gillespie's Gamechanger opened in August 2017 on the 200 concourse western end zone of the

Mercedes-Benz Stadium Mercedes-Benz Stadium is a retractable roof multi-purpose stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Opened in 2017 as a replacement for the Georgia Dome, it is the home of the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL) and Atlanta ...

. In May 2024, Gillespie opened Nadair (translated as "the way of nature" in

Gaelic Gaelic (pronounced for Irish Gaelic and for Scots Gaelic) is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". It may refer to: Languages * Gaelic languages or Goidelic languages, a linguistic group that is one of the two branches of the Insul ...

) in Atlanta, a restaurant showcasing his Scottish heritage.

''Top Chef''

Gillespie was a finalist in the sixth season of ''

'',

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's cooking competition show and was voted as the "Fan Favorite" contestant for the season. As a prize for winning one of the Top Chef episodes, Gillespie was invited to compete in the Bocuse d'Or USA cooking competition, for the opportunity to be the U.S. representative in the 2011 international

Bocuse d'Or The Bocuse d'Or (the ''Concours mondial de la cuisine'', World Cooking Contest) is a :wikt:biennial, biennial world chef championship. Named for the chef Paul Bocuse, the event takes place during two days near the end of January in Lyon, France, a ...

, but later withdrew due to not having enough time to prepare. Gillespie returned to television to compete on Bravo's ''

Top Chef Duels ''Top Chef Duels'' is an American reality competition series that premiered on August 6, 2014, on Bravo. The culinary show is one of the several spin-off series of the popular cooking competition show ''Top Chef'' aired on the same network. Anno ...

'', advancing to the high-stakes finale. In a 2012 interview, chef

Wolfgang Puck Wolfgang Johannes Puck (born July 8, 1949) is an Austrian chef and restaurateur. Early life Puck was born in Sankt Veit an der Glan, Austria. He learned cooking from his mother, who was a pastry chef. He took the surname of his stepfather, Jos ...

stated that Gillespie is his favorite Top Chef alumnus.The Braiser blog
Wolfgang Puck: Young Chefs Today Don’t Know How To Cook An Egg Correctly
November 1, 2012. Accessed January 3, 2013. Gillespie also competed in the 2020 All Stars LA season of Top Chef. He was eliminated in the Restaurant Wars episode. Gillespie was team captain for Restaurant Wars. When his team lost in Restaurant Wars, Gillespie took responsibility for his team's loss and accepted elimination. Following his elimination, Gillespie fought hard to return to the competition via Last Chance Kitchen. Gillespie returned to the Top Chef All Stars LA competition in episode 11 having won Last Chance Kitchen.

Awards

On November 6, 2014, Gillespie was awarded the GRACE Innovator Award by the Georgia Restaurant Association. Gillespie was nominated for

Food & Wine ''Food & Wine'' is an American monthly magazine published by Dotdash Meredith. It was founded in 1978 by Ariane and Michael Batterberry. It features recipes, cooking tips, travel information, restaurant reviews, chefs, wine pairings and sea ...

's People's Best New Chef and named Forbes' 30 Under 30. In 2014, Gunshow earned a spot on

GQ magazine ''GQ'' (short for ''Gentlemen's Quarterly'' and previously known as ''Apparel Arts'') is an international monthly men's magazine based in New York City and founded in 1931. The publication focuses on fashion, style, and culture for men, though ...

's list of "12 Most Outstanding Restaurants" as well as Esquire magazine's list of "Best New Restaurants of 2014." Eater included Gunshow in its annual "The National 38" list of places to eat in America in 2015 and 2016. Gillespie reached the semi-final stage of the

James Beard James Andrews Beard (May 5, 1903 – January 21, 1985) was an American chef, cookbook author, teacher and television personality. He pioneered television cooking shows, taught at The James Beard Cooking School in New York City and Seaside ...

Rising Star Chef of the Year awards four consecutive years in a row. In 2013, Gillespie was named a James Beard Foundation Award Finalist in the Cookbook: American Cooking category for his debut cookbook, ''Fire in my Belly''. His 2015 follow-up, "Pure Pork Awesomeness," was devoted to Gillespie's preferred protein. Gillespie was named a semifinalist for the James Beard Award Best Chef: Southeast in 2015, finalist in 2016 and a semifinalist in 2017. In 2022, Gillespie was named a James Beard Award finalist in the Outstanding Restaurateur category.

Personal

Gillespie grew up in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

and attended Henry County High School, interested in becoming a nuclear engineer. In 1997–1998 he was accepted to

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

with a full scholarship, but he decided to attend the Art Institute of Atlanta after high school instead to study cooking. Gillespie married Valerie Combs on September 4, 2011. In May 2018, Gillespie was diagnosed with a rare form of

renal cancer Kidney cancer, also known as renal cancer, is a group of cancers that starts in the kidney. Symptoms may include blood in the urine, a lump in the abdomen, or back pain. Fever, weight loss, and tiredness may also occur. Complications can include ...

. This was discovered after an unrelated back surgery follow-up in 2017, at which time the

MRI Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to generate pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes inside the body. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and rad ...

displayed an abnormal kidney. On May 24, 2018, one of his kidneys was removed.

In other media

* Gillespie voiced himself in the season six episode "Asbestos I Can" on the animated series ''

Squidbillies ''Squidbillies'' is an American adult animated sitcom created by Jim Fortier and Dave Willis for Cartoon Network's late night programming block Adult Swim. An unofficial pilot for the series aired on April 1, 2005. The series later made its o ...

''. * Gillespie also voiced a truck driver in the animated series ''

Archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In modern ...

''. * In 2012, Gillespie voiced Crimson Tightwad in the

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...

syndicated series/

Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as

dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representativ ...

and s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...

original ''

Aqua Teen Hunger Force ''Aqua Teen Hunger Force'' (also branded with different #Alternative titles, alternative titles for seasons 8–11), is an American adult animated television series created by Dave Willis and Matt Maiellaro for Cartoon Network's late night progra ...

''. * In June 2021, Gillespie joined the MeatEater hunting podcast and media group as a Culinary Contributor

References

External links

Kevin's Personal Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gillespie, Kevin Living people 1982 births Writers from Atlanta American chefs American male chefs