About Gavin
Gavin Baker’s culinary career began by accident when he decided to try a cooking class at A/B Tech on a whim. The moment he walked into the school’s kitchen classroom, he knew he was home.
Since then, he’s had a wide array of experiences; experiences as varied as teaching cooking in the rural Himalayas, to managing Justin Timberlake’s restaurant on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. From working with the legendary Jean-Jacques Rachou in New York, to holding a coveted sous chef position at The Fat Duck during its years as one of the top 2 restaurants in the world. He’s opened restaurants in Australia, Dubai, Indonesia, and across the United States. Most recently, Gavin has been studying sustainability and the future of food while earning a Master’s Degree from SOAS University in London.
His goal has always been to return to Asheville and bring his global experience back to the place he calls home. After 20 years abroad, he’s excited to open a restaurant in downtown Asheville in partnership with his brother, Trevor.
In the press...
Mist:Adelaide in Review
...US expat chef Gavin Baker is at the helm tonight. Gavin is the ‘Baker’ in the Walker Evans Baker Restaurant Group, a company responsible for a series of Melbourne restaurants including Bar Nacional. He was previously sous-chef at Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck and also worked at La Cote Basque in New York (one of the settings in Truman Capote’s unfinished Answered Prayers) and at Justin Timberlake’s restaurant, Chi, in LA.
Tonight’s dinner forms part of Gavin’s The Mist Project, described as a “guerrilla restaurant that produces incredible food and an incredible experience as it travels across the globe.”
Concrete Playground Talks Meat with Gavin Baker
Little Hunter, a newcomer to the Melbourne dining scene, has been creating quite a buzz. Their bread made with chicken skin and chicken fat (yes, chicken fat) is gathering somewhat of a cult following already. When they aren't serving up bread from our dreams, curing and smoking meat is their strong point. American-born Gavin Baker is bringing a Josper charcoal oven, one of only three in Australia, to the party and preparing meat like no other.
Taking Jungle Cuisine to the Restaurant Table
Gavin Baker may have been born and raised in North Carolina, the home of barbecue and spare ribs, but his epicurean journey has seen him set up a new restaurant in Australia inspired by The Fat Duck (where he worked alongside Heston Blumenthal), join in pig hunting expeditions in the jungles of Bali, and spend time in an illegal Thai spearfishing commune.