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The Hollywood Reporter began airing the second season of its video series entitled “Where Hollywood Eats” on ReachMe TV shown in airports, stores, and hotels. The first two episodes star Atlanta’s Gunshow and Umi. Both were pegged as celebrity favorites.
But, before jumping to conclusions that this all about celebrity dining habits, the series actually focuses on the restaurants and their food. The celebrities are an afterthought.
The first episode features Top Chef Kevin Gillespie’s Gunshow. Executive chef Joey Ward takes viewers on a tour of the southern dim sum restaurant’s unique dining experience and its dishes. At one point, Ward refers to Gunshow’s celebrity clientele as “Y’allywood”. The Mindy Project’s Mindy Kaling as well as Mandy Moore from This is Us fame have been known to dine at the Ormewood Park spot.
For the second episode, Umi sushi chef Fuyuhiko Ito and his knife skills are on display in Buckhead. He says Jennifer Lawrence is a big fan of his Miyazaki beef steak which she apparently called “the best steak she ever had.” Other celebrity sightings at Umi have included actor/musician Drake, Jason Statham, and Liam Hemsworth.
A new episode features Ford Fry’s Westside French steakhouse Marcel.
Georgia is home to approximately 14 movie studios. Pinewood Atlanta Studios in the south metro Atlanta city of Fayetteville is the largest in the state. The studio’s Hollywood draw prompted the development of Pinewood Forest across the street which is planning 15 miles of walking trails, apartments, shops, movie theaters, and restaurants. Braise, from chef Tanya Jimenez and her husband and fellow chef Michael Le, is the first restaurant to sign on in the village square.
On any given day in Atlanta, residents are likely to run into a film crew or their neighborhood (or home) used as a backdrop to a movie or television show. According to a report from the Georgia Department of Economic Development, the movie and television industry generated $9.5 billion in revenue for the state in 2017.
