Billy Cole Is IN as Gunshow's First Pastry Chef

Gunshow, Top Chef alum Kevin Gillespie's flying circus of a restaurant in Glenwood Park, has an official pastry chef for the first time. Billy Cole is on board and in charge of Gunshow's dessert menu, according to an announcement from the restaurant.

"I think of Gunshow as Atlanta's best sounding board for culinary creativity," Cole said in a prepared statement. "I love not being restricted to one genre of cuisine, and it's inspiring to have the autonomy to innovate and hopefully expand guests' palates. But what is even more exciting is the idea of being surrounded by so many great young chefs in the Gunshow kitchen who expand my horizons as well."

A look at Gunshow's menu for the week offers an idea of how Cole will treat desserts at the restaurant. Gillespie's beloved warm banana pudding is still on the list. It's joined by chocolate cake with egg yolk gel, pecan, and coconut, as well as sugar-cured egg yolk with peach creameaux, almond, and caramel.

Most recently, Cole spent two years at The Luminary, Eli Kirshtein's Krog Street Market restaurant, where he dealt with savory and sweet as chef de cuisine. His prior experience in Atlanta includes a four-year stint as assistant pastry chef at Linton Hopkin's Restaurant Eugene and The Chocolate Bar in Decatur. Beyond the Peach State's borders, Cole staged at at Michelin-starred restaurants In de Wulf in Belgium and Manresa in Los Gatos, Calif.

"Billy is a great match for Gunshow," executive chef Joey Ward said. "The way he's rotated between savory and pastry chef positions so seamlessly in the past has given him a masterful understanding of savory techniques and flavors. For our guests, that means an elegant transition into dessert courses to end their meal on a well-balanced note."