Robert Holley
taped at
Brasserie Le Coze
Atlanta GA
http://www.buckheadrestaurants.com/afm
Native New Yorker Robert Holley graduated from the Culinary Institute of America, and in 1987 went to work for the brother-and-sister team of Maguy and Gilbert Le Coze at New York’s extraordinary Le Bernardin Restaurant. Under the tutelage of New York Times four-star chef Gilbert Le Coze, Holley learned the special skills of fish preparation. In his four years at Le Bernardin, Holley worked hard learning the techniques of a fine French kitchen. In 1991 the Le Cozes opened Brasserie Le Coze in Miami, and Holley joined them as executive chef.
Holley gave Miami residents something to celebrate in the more casual, but still elegant and disciplined, Brasserie Le Coze. The immediate praise and accolades encouraged the brother-and-sister team to open a second Brasserie Le Coze in Atlanta in 1994. One year later, Holley moved to Atlanta to become executive chef. His reception there has been as warm and enthusiastic as it was in Miami.
Atlantans embraced and celebrated the talented Holley, while being amazed and delighted by such dishes as skate with brown butter scattered with capers and salmon over French lentils splashed with vinegar. Food writers have alternately described Holley’s dishes as “downright mesmerizing,” “magical in its essence,” and “miraculous.” Writer Terrell Vermont said, “I’m grateful for this new restaurant, and applaud its every effort.”
Holley was chosen to represent the United States in the Culinary Olympics in Germany in 1987. He was the team captain for the hot food competition, where his team bested culinary teams from around the world to capture a silver medal. Since 2002 Holley has run the kitchen at Atlanta Fish Market in the Buckhead area. It is most appropriate that this chef who once set out to become a marine biologist is working at the most popular seafood restaurant in Atlanta in a building noted for its enormous fish sculpture outside.
