The pop-up is named for the fruit thrown by Eris, the Greek goddess of chaos and discord, that started the Trojan War. “Some people would say it’s foolish to name your business after a goddess of chaos and discord, but I shoo those people away,” he said.
McGill, a metro Atlanta native, took a circuitous route to a career as a cook. A classically trained actor who has run theater companies and appeared on stages around town including 7 Stages in Little Five Points, he said cooking was always a passion that he turned into a job once he realized he needed another source of income.
Though his mother shooed him out of the kitchen for regular dinners when he was younger, he picked up some tips and tricks from her through the years and was tasked with cooking for bigger family events.
“The kitchen was her domain, but she put me on the road to having an elevated palate,” he said. “When I found out other kids weren’t eating duck a la orange for dinner most nights, I was confused. I ordered lamb chops medium-rare when I was 8 years old.”
He started out in the kitchen at Holy Taco in East Atlanta before moving around the corner to Argosy, where he cut his teeth under the tutelage of chefs Michael Person and Tyler Haake. He also spent time at a restaurant in Oregon during the pandemic while working with a theater company before returning to Atlanta in late 2022.
He said working in theater and working in a kitchen use surprisingly similar skill sets.
“Working on the line in a kitchen is all about thinking on your feet, and being able to do multiple things at once,” he said. “And when an actor’s on stage, they have to have the entire book in their head, where they’re supposed to be, and the action that they’re taking, and do it with a smile on their face. With both, you have to keep pushing forward, no matter what happens.”
The chicken wings McGill started his pop-up with…
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