Chef Zeb Stevenson describes his newly opened Westside Provisions District restaurant Redbird as “free-spirited.” It’s where the former Watershed chef can finally let loose his culinary creativity to cook what he wants, when he wants — no holds barred.
Nearly 15 months away from working in a professional kitchen allowed Stevenson time to reflect back on his 20-year cooking career in Atlanta. This included working for his mentor chef Harold Marmulstein at the now defunct Dick & Harry’s in Roswell, a sous chef position at Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Atlanta restaurant Spice Market, winning Food Network’s Chopped in 2012, and throwing epic dinners like the five-course “blood dinner” and his 12-course “last supper” before departing his executive chef post at the Livingston in Midtown.
In 2014, Watershed owners Ross Jones and Emily Saliers of folk rock duo the Indigo Girls brought Stevenson on to lead the kitchen at the iconic Southern restaurant on Peachtree Street. Stevenson breathed new life into the 20-year-old establishment, and arguably brought Watershed’s food to its pinnacle.
Meeting Jones would also mark a turning point in Stevenson’s career.
With the sale of Watershed to chef Matt Marcus in 2018, Jones partnered with Stevenson to open his first restaurant. She credits Stevenson for the enormous success Watershed enjoyed under his watch and knew this next restaurant would finally be Stevenson’s “moment to shine.”
Redbird’s open kitchen and a marble top prep station at the chef’s counter, referred to as the “lab”, afford Stevenson the opportunity to greet people as they enter his restaurant.
The menu is broken out into cold plates and snacks, shared appetizers comprising of several vegetables dishes, entrees such as bubbling garlic shrimp with pull bread, and four desserts, including an homage to his home state of Indiana. Everything is meant to be enjoyed family-style.
Stevenson, who describes Redbird and its food as “earnest and personal,” says while everything on the plate may look simple, everything on that plate may have taken two days to make.
Learn why Stevenson considers these five dishes, currently on Redbird’s dinner menu, to be his favorites.
Ripe tomatoes with basil dressing
“To make the dressing for this tomato salad we have to make a basil oil. It means, we have to blanche and chop a lot of basil and process it with oil until it’s green and vibrant. We use that to build an emulsion. If I’m going to eat a tomato and basil salad, I want to be able to put my fork in it and get all of those flavors in every bite.”
The salad is dressed with crumbles of blue cheese, endives, and crispy, fried sourdough mother.
Chicken liver mousse with berry mustard and black bread
“The chicken liver mouse is an homage dish. My mentor [Harold Marmulstein] taught me to make this. It was one of the first dishes he taught me to make, and I treasure that experience. Harold taught me how to really cook. His mentor chef taught him to make this pâté, and it goes back generations. Now I teach my chefs to make it.”
The dish comes with a dollop of strawberry mustard, which was made eight weeks prior to Redbird’s opening during the height of the fruit’s season.
Stevenson creates the dough for the grilled dark rye bread served with the dish after service each night. Wheat and rye berries are milled into flour. The dough is mixed with cocoa, muscovado sugar, molasses, and ground caraway seeds. It rises slowly overnight in the walk-in cooler, then shaped into loaves and baked in the morning.
Grilled okra with buttermilk and crispy shallots
“It’s a dish everyone really loves. I was surprised, because okra often gets a bad rap. We don’t eat okra where I come from, and it’s truly a Southern ingredient that I’ve learned to have an appreciation for as an adult. It’s such a simple looking dish, but it’s a miracle when it hits the plate perfectly.”
Whole okra is dry blanched in the fryer for about 20 seconds. Stevenson admits, getting the timing right for blanching the okra took a lot of trial and error. “It’s so easy for okra to become overdone,” he explains. Stevenson then lays the okra atop a thin layer of buttermilk dressing and sprinkles the vegetables with fried shallots.
Poached leeks in tomato broth and olive oil
“I wanted a vegetable dish that could go with any protein on the table. I love leeks. I love the sweetness of leeks, the slightly sulfury flavor and toothiness leeks bring to a dish. We serve our leeks in a tomato dashi broth.”
Stevenson steams the water out of fresh cucumbers and tomatoes. The liquid is steeped with dried sea kelp, garlic, bay leaves, and fresh herbs to create a super umami broth.
Leeks are soaked in an aromatic brine overnight and poached in the brine with white wine. The vegetables are then grilled, cut open, and the insides removed. Leeks are stacked in the bowl, the broth is poured over them, and a touch of olive oil is added.
The chef describes the dish as “Jean-Georges-inspired.”
Sugar cream pie — the state dessert of Indiana
“I didn’t intend to put sugar cream pie on the menu. But, my mother has always wanted me to put this pie on a menu. It’s the state dessert of Indiana, where I’m from. My mom came down for the opening and I thought I would make this for her. This dessert is really for my mom. She had the pie, and she was pleased. For her to be pleased, that’s a big deal.”
The dessert is topped with a dusting of cinnamon and served with a small scoop of whipped cream on the side.
Lunch: Monday - Friday, 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; Dinner: Monday - Saturday, 5 p.m. to 10 p.m (11 p.m. on Saturdays); Brunch: Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
1198 Howell Mill Road, Atlanta. redbirdatl.com.