Lifting The Curse Chef Kevin Mcmullen At The Brixton

• Michael Gebert
• Kevin McMullen at the Brixton

I had reason to stop by the Brixton and talk to Chef Kevin McMullen for something coming up in these pages/pixels—which you’ll see in due course—but while I was there I chatted with him for a few minutes about the Andersonville bar-restaurant, which so far has succeeded in lifting what appeared to be a curse on its location.

The irony about bringing in McMullen to help transform the space back into the neighborhood bar it was before Premise is that one of the guys he crossed paths with at Longman & Eagle was Brian Runge—not to mention that McMullen’s background at El Ideas and working with Brandon Baltzley wasn’t the likeliest prep for making the food people expect to find in a bar. But Longman’s group has succeeded in squaring the circle that Premise didn’t quite manage on its own—bringing modernism and more unusual ingredients to a comfortable bar atmosphere and making it all make sense together. I ask McMullen how he developed the bar’s menu without making it too out there—or too conventional.