Chris Hall is clearly the most rakishly handsome and debonair of the three Unsukay Partners.
His story begins right around the corner from Local Three at the Pizza Hut on Collier Road, where he worked as a teenager. Somehow, the magic smell of pepperoni and yeast lured him in and 30+ years later he is still at it. Either that, or he is just too dense to figure anything else out…. So he threw some pizzas and moved up the proverbial ladder, eventually landing, while in college, at Philadelphia’s famed Lec Bec Fin where he was begrudgingly taught to cook by an angry Frenchman and his minions. It was a kitchen ripe with talent (and he was too dumb to be scared), so he set off to learning and taught himself how to cook. Some folks, including a few dining critics, claim he never learned to cook, but undaunted, he still kept trying.
Hall eventually headed home to Atlanta in search of bourbon and a Southern Belle. He found both and is still in love with both to this day. He landed at Canoe on his return and cut his teeth with Gary Mennie, George McKerrow, Ron San Martin and the gang by the river. It was an amazing time at an incredible restaurant and the most formative of his cooking years; but he always knew he wanted his own place, and if nothing else, to cook what he wanted, however he wanted, whenever he wanted. So after meeting Turner and Muss, a fast friendship formed and they began talking about a partnership. It was a long winding road to eventually get there, but the seed for Local Three was born. Years later, they opened Local Three to a swell of critical and guest acclaim and the rest, as they say, is history.
Hall still cooks (not enough for his liking…) but his main role is the partner in charge of the day-to-day operations of Unsukay. What’s on the menu, who is cooking and serving it, how we’re buying it, along with a multitude of other things. In all honesty, he is just trying to figure it all out. His true passion these days is to help people in much the same way people helped him in his career. He loves to coach and mentor and is still entranced by the machinations of the restaurant business.
Hall participates actively in a number of charities and is a founder and former Vice Chairman of The Giving Kitchen. In 2015, Chris, Ryan and Todd were named Cornerstone Humanitarians by the National Restaurant Association’s Educational Foundation for their role in kick starting the Giving Kitchen. In 2019, the Giving Kitchen became the second organization to receive the prestigious James Beard Humanitarian of the Year Award.
He out-kicked his coverage by a long way and has been married to his wife Julie since 2000 (as well as her roller derby alter ego, Polly Atomic, since 2010). They live in Smyrna and when he is not in the restaurants, he is golfing, crashing around the woods, shooting at things, and generally acting the fool. CH loves all kinds of football, round and oblong, and is an avid fan of Rugby ATL as well as being a fractional owner of the team. He never misses an Atlanta United or Arsenal match and will gladly regale you with the delights of gegenpressing and juego de posicion. He likes Dusty Rhodes and Ric Flair, The Dude, Val Kilmer as Doc Holiday, Omar Little, a great bottle of wine, a fine cigar, brown whiskey, piña coladas and getting caught in the rain…… But most of all, he is incredibly grateful for the staff, guests, and friends, old and new, who keep the company going.
