Look At The Cook: Chef Shaun Doty

As executive chef of the recently launched Table 1280 Restaurant and Tapas Lounge in the Woodruff Arts Center, Shaun Doty is surrounded by modern architecture, modern art, music, dance and theater. The place is brimming with creativity. Music is even piped into the parking deck.

Catch Doty in a reflective mood and he might surprise you, and himself for that matter, by telling you his favorite time of day is the short walk to his car, a few sweet minutes listening to the music, savoring his new life.

The transition from chef and owner of MidCity Cuisine to executive chef of Table 1280 was a significant professional step and lifestyle change for Doty. The restaurant is managed by New York-based Restaurant Associates, and he knew a corporate setting would present new challenges. But along with those challenges have come unique opportunities, and he says he is inspired by his contact with the business people, artists and architects involved in the Woodruff Arts Center expansion.

His role as the leader of the Table 1280 team is to guide the culinary direction of the restaurant – focusing on his vision of first-rate hospitality and cuisine – rather than to deal with the day-to-day minutiae of running it. Doty, 36, began his career in the South and broadened his culinary horizons with time in Europe. Table 1280’s menu comprises simple, succulent fare blending classic European and traditional Southern sensibilities. He may have traveled the world, but his affection for Atlanta shines throughout his conversation.

There’s a trend for art centers to have fantastic dining venues now. You see it at the [Museum of Modern Art] in New York City, the Getty in California. These places have phenomenal restaurants. It’s amazing for me to be on this campus. It’s so highly designed. .... When people come to Atlanta and they visit the Woodruff Arts Center, they visit the Alliance [Theatre], they visit the High [Museum], they visit one of the other venues, and they have an experience on a par with anything you can receive anywhere. I think that we’re a part of that.

When you enter into an artistically charged environment, it can be emotionally challenging. It’s nice to be able to find something that’s a little bit of an oasis of luxury and comfort. For example, if you came into this highly designed restaurant and you just saw Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, you might need a comforting experience after that! Coming in here and having a roast chicken and a well-prepared crÈme brulÈe just might be the ticket to having a complete arts experience.

I had an eggplant dish, an eggplant with foie gras served with a white burgundy, and this white burgundy had such a flavor of the vanilla from the oak. I remember that the pairing was just really, really brilliant.

I’m taking, seasonally, things that would grow next to each other and putting them together. There’s some kind of cosmic philosophy behind that in terms of nutrition and flavor. I would take a game dish and serve it with a cooked autumn fruit. That’s my creativity. My creativity is in the sourcing and procuring of really great ingredients

Rock shrimp. I don’t even know what a rock shrimp is! I just don’t like them.

The other night my girlfriend made me some hot dogs with sauerkraut, and we watched a movie. Of course that’s not on the menu here, but we were, like, this is a damn good hot dog! It took 10 minutes to make dinner, and I didn’t really feel guilty about it.

I usually invite friends over. I get a Heritage turkey, a rare breed turkey from Slow Foods, and I take all the bones out so it doesn’t take forever to cook. It cooks in an hour and a half. It’s really nice and moist that way. I stuff it with chestnuts, and then I do some traditional dishes. I have a lot of ethnic friends, and people who are contributing can be from Latin to Korean, so it’s really multicultural.