Inside Gunshow Restaurant: How Chef Cody Chassar Leads an Atlanta Icon

Over dinner, Chef Chassar talks about his journey and how he is keeping Gunshow an Atlanta dining institution.

By Daniela Cintron

Published August 20, 2025

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It’s a Monday night at Gigi’s Italian Kitchen, a restaurant on Atlanta’s Eastside where good Italian food flows to tables dressed in checkered tablecloths, wine is served in antique glasses and laughter fills the softly-lit dining room. 

(Photo by Daniela Cintron)

I slide into a red-leather booth near the door. While it feels like I am hanging out in Italy, I’m here crashing chef Cody Chassar’s weekly dinner with his wife, Paula-Marie Kule. On Mondays and Tuesdays, the unofficial weekend for many in the food industry, Chassar and his wife explore restaurants around the city. An Italian feast here at Gigi’s is often on the list. 

“It’s accessible, it’s easy,” Chassar says as he looks around the room. “It’s always busy, but no matter what, when we walk in, there’s always a seat.” 

He takes charge of ordering for the table. He makes sure we have balance: pastas, proteins, vegetables and old-time favorites. We all agree that you cannot have too much pasta, so we order both offerings.

Chassar likes that Gigi’s sources locally and keeps things reasonably priced. “I feel like I can go eat a good product on my day off without paying an arm and a leg,” he tells me. Product quality is essential to him; in fact, it is his North Star while leading one of Atlanta’s most iconic kitchens, Gunshow. 

(Photo by Daniela Cintron)

Gunshow, an Atlanta Institution

To understand Chassar’s role, it helps to understand Gunshow, located just three miles up the road from Gigi’s, on the Eastside.

Since opening in 2013 under culinary superstar Kevin Gillespie, the restaurant has been one of Atlanta’s most daring and original dining concepts.

This Michelin-recommended restaurant is not fine dining in the traditional sense. The lights are bright, the music jumps from hip-hop to pop to rock, and instead of white linens, guests sit at stainless steel prep tables. The walls are lined with racks of dishes, kitchen tools and pantry goods. It feels like you’re eating inside the engine room of a ship, except the engine is a team of cooks, working right in front of you. Orchestrating the engine room is Chassar. 

It’s no surprise that, aside from Michelin, Gunshow has received nods from the James Beard Foundation, GQ Magazine, Esquire, Eater and more.

The restaurant is the kind of place where you show up and everyone is happy to see you. The general manager welcomes you with a warm smile. Someone shouts “Hello” from the cocktail cart. You settle into your seat, and a friendly face explains the process to anyone who needs a refresher or is new to the scene.  

(Photo courtesy of Gunshow)

Gunshow works like no other restaurant in the city. There’s a menu, but you don’t place an order. Instead, the chef or the cooks come to your table with a dish in hand. There, you decide if you want it or not. If you take it, they mark your menu; if not, they stick their tail between their legs and go cry in the walk-in refrigerator. Kidding — they return with options. No hard feelings.

(Photo courtesy of Gushow)

It’s nearly impossible for me to say no. How could I? Each dish is creative and enticing. So, be prepared with roomy pants. I have eaten the whole menu along with my husband, and yet, I always have room for dessert. The menu is designed in such a way that you are content and satisfied, but not in a food coma. No wonder so many are regulars. A few diners come in more than once a week. 

That kind of loyalty is what makes the restaurant feel less like a novelty and more like an institution. It is an Atlanta dining room that has held its place for more than a decade by constantly evolving while also staying true to its roots.

Chef Chassar’s Journey

Chassar’s journey to this kitchen was anything but scripted. In high school, living in Michigan, he worked midnight shifts at Taco Bell just to cover his car insurance. His father, who worked at a college, gave him a pamphlet with course offerings. Culinary arts caught his eye, and he enrolled without knowing that decision would change the trajectory of his life.

“When I was a kid, I wasn’t good at any sort of arts, and I really needed an outlet. I couldn’t draw. I couldn’t write. I couldn’t paint. I couldn’t play an instrument. I couldn’t do anything creative like that at all. I was terrible at it and I just felt so uncomfortable,” says Chassar. “But I will never forget the first day I worked as a line cook. It felt like I’d accessed an entire part of my existence that I didn’t know existed.”

At 17, Chassar became a certified grill master at Red Lobster — a job he still calls one of the most fundamental he ever had. “It’s so important for cooks to have one of those jobs early on, to learn speed before you learn fine detail technique,” he says.

He went on to work in Nashville at chef Sean Brock’s Husk, under chef Brian Baxter, where he learned to respect ingredients in their purest form. At the Catbird Seat, a small U-shaped open kitchen restaurant, he fine-tuned his attention to detail and the art of guest interaction. 

(Photo by Daniela Cintron)

At the Helm of Gunshow

In 2023, in his late 20s, Cody became chef de cuisine at Gunshow, the fourth chef in the restaurant’s history to lead the ship. Before him were Gillespie himself in the kitchen, Joey Ward, now chef and owner of Michelin-recommended Georgia Boy and Southern Belle, and Chris McCord, who went on to open Bovino After Dark and Seventh House — names that loom large in Atlanta’s food scene.

(Photo by Daniela Cintron)

Chassar has stayed true to the spirit of Gunshow while adding his own touch. He slowed the pacing, refined portion sizes and leaned hard into his ingredient-driven philosophy. 

The menus begin with the farms. Chassar works closely with local growers, adjusting dishes to whatever the season and soil provide. Instead of dictating what he needs, he lets the farmers lead, building plates around what’s fresh and available that week. “My whole menu is the name of the farm,” he explains. “It has no preparations, nothing. It’s just ingredient-focused so that everybody can attach themselves to these names.”

(Photo by Daniela Cintron)

Education has also been at the core of Chassar’s leadership. He’s brought in a learning-kitchen culture for his team, encouraging them to study, adapt and grow with each service. Setting up a cookbook library at the restaurant, with his own books, Chassar has been able to create curiosity and hunger for creativity among his team. Sometimes even homework is involved.

Sometimes, to join the fun, Chassar invites guest chefs he admires from around the country to come cook with him and his team at Gunshow. Known as the “Hired Guns” dinners, those nights are a debouchery where diners are in for a fun and delicious ride.

The Open Kitchen Advantage

One of my favorite things about Gunshow is its open kitchen and access to the people preparing the food. I like to see who is behind the dish, what their personality is like, how they talk about the orchestrated ingredients and how much fun they are having making it. It’s like looking at art in a museum, except you get to eat it. Chassar thrives in that format. 

“The best part about working in open kitchens is you learn a lot about the food — really, really quickly,” he says, admitting that 90% of the time he is watching people’s reactions and how they interact with the food. Based on that, he might change the food in real-time. 

“You spend all night long just staring at people’s plates. You get instantaneous feedback just by watching people eating,” says Chassar. “Working in this way changes you; it makes you much more humble.”

I have been guilty of nearly licking a plate trying to get every drop from a sauce before a new dish shows up on the table. Chassar has caught me and made his way with more. 

Never be afraid to order more. The menu changes more often than the weather changes in Atlanta, so it might be your last chance to enjoy it. Repeating is not only encouraged, but it might actually make the chef’s day. “I love it when people ask for a second round of something. That’s when I know we’ve nailed it. It’s the biggest compliment we can receive,” he says. 

(Photo by Daniela Cintron)

“We Keep Going”

As dinner winds down at Gigi’s, Chassar reflects on the risks and resilience that define his work and the journey he and his wife have taken. “There is no second option,” he says. “There is just go. And if we fail, we fail, and we keep going.”

Gunshow, with its fearless format, embodies that spirit — and under Cody Chassar’s leadership, it is as vibrant as ever.

Gunshow is located at 924 Garrett St.

Where We Went and What We Ordered:

Gigi’s Italian Kitchen & Restaurant

Chef Chassar and his wife, Paula-Marie, ordered for the table. We pretty much ordered everything on the menu, except for two items. The menu changes seasonally.

Small Dishes:

• Tuna Tartare
• Beef Carpaccio
• Georgia Peaches & Tomatoes
• Foccaccia
• Crispy Poenta Cakes
• Potato Tonnato

Pastas by John:

• Casarecce
• Mafaldine

Carne:

• Charcoal Grilled Steak

Dessert:

• World Famous Tiramisu
• Sorbetto

Gigi’s Italian Kitchen & Restaurant is located at 1660 McLendon Ave NE.

Daniela Cintrón is an award-winning journalist, editor, and producer passionate about storytelling at the intersection of food, art, and culture. She is the content manager and bilingual editor for Discover Atlanta and contributes to publications like the Los Angeles Times, Atlanta Magazine and Eater.