Lee Gregory, whose creativity as head chef at Six Burner Restaurant in the Fan has made it a local favorite, plans to move west to the Shenandoah Valley, where he’ll be executive chef at a new restaurant called Mockingbird that's set to open in downtown Staunton next month. “It’s been a whirlwind — only a five- or six-day process,” Gregory said this afternoon. “It’s been kind of crazy.” He plans to start work in Staunton on Sept. 1 and intends to stay at Six Burner through the end of August. Six Burner is looking in Richmond as well as in larger cities outside the state in its search for his replacement, he says.

Gregory, a South Carolina native and graduate of Johnson and Wales College of Culinary Arts, has worked at Six Burner since it opened more than five years ago. He says he was approached by Wade Luhn, owner of Mockingbird. “I wasn’t really looking for a job,” he says, but it sounded like an appealing concept: farm-to-table, Shenandoah Valley-sourced cuisine combined with a 150-seat concert hall that will feature acoustic music, including blues, bluegrass, folk, Celtic, Cajun, alternative country and mountain music.

He says he also found the craftsmanship involved with Mockingbird appealing. The restaurant building features reclaimed wood, a bar made from local soapstone, lighting fixtures made of hand-blown glass and detail work by coppersmiths.

Luhn says he had interviewed quite a few people for the executive-chef job. Then a Staunton resident who had lived in Richmond suggested that Gregory might be a good fit for Mockingbird's "artisanal casual" concept. "They were Six Burner patrons and they said, 'You might want to talk to this guy.' He's got a great reputation and he likes the challenge of using a minimal number of fresh ingredients to produce a great product."

Luhn then visited Six Burner and started talking to Gregory's references. "One person called him the most underrated chef in Richmond," Luhn says. People also praised Gregory's creativity and described him as someone who would rather be in the kitchen than in the limelight. Luhn had found his chef. 

Ah, well. At least Staunton's not that far away.