We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Chalmers Stewart. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Chalmers below.

Chalmers , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with education – we’d love to hear your thoughts about how we can better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career.

I grew up in a small Montessori school that taught kindergarten through 12th, with the 6-12th grades focusing on college prep. The best aspect of this school that I wish would be applied to our education system is that the teaching should be molded to the student, not the other way around. For example, in high school, our English class was reading “Pride and Prejudice”.I could not, for the life of me, read the book without falling asleep with boredom, just couldnt care about it at all. So I sat with my teacher, and we discussed what books I thought I would find interesting, and also challenging. I decided on Dantes “Divine Comedy”. I would write and turn in papers/ book reports at the same time as the other students, and during class time I would have to create my own tasks to show that I was comprehending the books. This allowed me to read and discover things on my own, that I found interesting, and the same time, still do the required work for class.

Though ive never been through the public school system (though having many friends/ my wife who has) I understand that teacher counts are low and student counts are high, and it would be a logistical nightmare to implement this, but I do think that over time, personalized “tracks” for students could be made that shows what their strengths and weaknesses are, and how to work on those in ways that boosts the student, and not try to fit a square through a circle.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

In the school I went to, you had to do year long research projects whole in high school. They could be about anything you were interested about, and it culminated into a research paper and presentation at the end of the year.
I originally thought that my career path would be in mechanical engineering. I did of my projects on robotic locomotion, using Lego Mindstorm sets to design and build different wheeled/tracked/walking robots and how they would do through different terrains. This required basic programming, so the following year I did my research project on programming languages (basic, c++, etc) and I realized I absolutely hated it. I didn’t like sitting at a computer, i didn’t like how a simple bracket in the wrong spot could ruin all of your code, it was just not my thing. I finished that project and knew I needed to think of other careers. I ruled out some of my other interests like photography (I was in charge of our schools b&w photography darkroom) and decided that cooking was a possibility. My
father, David Stewart, at the time had retired from the Atlanta fire department and was a cigar store manager, happened to know Kevin Rathbun, as he was a regular and they both enjoyed the and cigars. My dad mentioned to Kevin my thoughts on cooking, and Kevin told him to have me come in, check out the restaurant. At 16 I started at Rathbuns, just a few hours a night a couple nights a week, working fry station and garde manger stations. After about 6 months of just getting my feet wet, Kevin told me I was really getting a hang of it, and made me an employee. I continued to work at Rathbuns for about another year and half or so before I graduated high school. With a letter of recommendation from Kevin, I enrolled to the Culinary Institute of America where I received my associates in culinary arts. During my time at the CIA,I did my externship at Joel’s (now currently Local 3) where my time there was incredibly formative. I learned an immense amount in techniques and responsibilities, but to be honest, the ridgedness and strictness of that kitchen almost broke my passion for cooking. Incredibly stressful, but worth it in the end. I learned that I absolutely respect those who work and thrive in that sort of kitchen, but I preferred a more “relaxed” kitchen. After graduating, I returned again to atlanta and again to working for Kevin, now at the new Kevin Rathbun Steak. I worked my way through the all stations, where most of my time i spent on saute or on “middle” (inside expo, think quarterback of the line, telling stations what do go on and when) After 2 years at KRS, I left as a sous chef under James Lohse, and moved to Athens, GA to at the late Farm 255. It was here I learned hands on practice of farm to table cooking, literally helping gather produce at our farm some mornings, or helping feed and corral pigs and cattle. I worked another 2 years here, first as a sous chef to Matthew Palmerlee, then under Whitney Otawka. I had met my now wife, Katherine, here in Athens, and we moved to Chicago for her to get her masters degree in speech pathology at Rush University, and I working at Stephanie Izards famed Girl and the Goat. Here is where I learned even more about whole animal butchery, and flavor profiles. Stephs approach to flavors is absolutely magical. Again, after 2 years, we moved back to Atlanta to be closer to family, and after a short hiatus, I returned to working at KRS. I quickly was left in a “head chef” position, Running the kitchen with two others for a couple years, until Kevin moved me to helm Rathbuns as it’s Chef de Cuisine. It was here that I was finally 100% in control of the menu, and I was able to really express myself and everything I had learned under all the great chefs I had worked for. I was in charge through our closure during the covid pandemic. It was incredibly sad to see the spot where it all started have to close so suddenly, but it was a great full circle journey.
I have been back at KRS now since 2020, first as sous chef to Johnathan Vullo until 2022, and since then as Chef de Cuisine. What I would say my culinary style has accumulated to is something balanced between “farm to table rustic” and “high end refined”. I like for the ingredients to speak for themselves, while keeping plates approachable and not getting to fussy. I’m a big believer in that there’s a time and place for tweezers and fancy plating. But I’m here for what the guest wants.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My dream restaurant would be a cross between my time at “Farm 255” and “Girl and the Goat”. Local and seasonal focused ingredients, working with local farmers and small operations, with the service being “small plate sharing”. From the chef perspective, I want dishes that are cooked and served immediately, how they’re intended to be eaten. From a guest perspective, I love trying lots of little things. I’d rather have 10 different small bites than 4 big ones. Food is about sharing, about community.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

One of the most important things I’ve learned from Kevin is each person, each employee, is their own individual self. You can’t talk to one the same way you can talk to another. You need to learn how to speak to each person on an individual level to get the best out of them. Some respond well to occasional “angry chef yelling”, others respond best if you gently ask them for what you need. And you Always treat them with respect. I never demand anyone to call me chef or demand they treat me like an authority. At the end of the day, it’s the respect that you give and the attitude you carry that gets people motivated to listen to you and do their best, not constantly yelling and demanding things from them.