The Grey, run by Executive Chef Mashama Bailey and Managing Partner Johno Morisano, opened its doors in downtown Savannah, Georgia, in December 2014. The restaurant offers diners Bailey’s soulful, seasonal take on the food of the city and the South, informed by her upbringing in Georgia and New York, her training in the US and overseas, and her personal experiences.

The heart of The Grey

Soon after the opening, Bon Appetit described The Grey as “one of the most stunning and unique restaurants to open in recent memory,” before continuing “If it looked half as good in 1938 as it does in 2015, we would hardly believe it." Why 1938? That’s the year the building originally opened, as a Greyhound Bus Terminal. At the time, the building—like the Greyhound buses themselves—was segregated into separate areas for white and black travelers. The fact that it has been lovingly restored and reopened as a high-level restaurant by a black woman and a white man working in partnership is satisfyingly symbolic. What’s more, the two of them have turned The Grey from a functional stopover into a sought-after destination.

Within the art deco exterior, the space has been stylishly transformed (by renowned NYC design firm Parts and Labor) in a way that respects the building’s history while reinventing its purpose: chromed luggage racks still adorn the walls, meanwhile the former ticket booth is now a kitchen, shower stalls once used by bus drivers are now private dining rooms, and so on. The restoration has received numerous design accolades from organizations including the James Beard Foundation, Bon Appetit, and the Historic Savannah Foundation.

The stylish décor is complemented by a warm, old-fashioned approach to hospitality: all part of the age-old business of taking guests on a journey.

Bronx-born chef Bailey grew up between Georgia, where she learned to cook at the hands of the women in her extended family, and New York City, where she went on to study at the Institute of Culinary Education. After a work-study period in Burgundy, France, she returned to New York and worked for over a decade both in restaurants and, briefly, as a personal chef in the Upper East Side. Her final four years in NYC were as Sous Chef at Prune. There she was mentored by Gabrielle Hamilton, who introduced her to Morisano and encouraged her to accept his offer to move back to Savannah to open The Grey.

Bailey has since been featured in the sixth season of Netflix show Chef’s Table and appeared as a guest on Top Chef. When not in the kitchen, she chairs the Edna Lewis foundation, championing the legacy of African American cooking that has deeply influenced her culinary approach at The Grey.

In 2019, Bailey won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southeast, then went a step further in 2022 when she was awarded the James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef, becoming the first black woman to receive this prestigious title.

Among its many accolades, The Grey was included in Food & Wine's list of World’s Best Restaurants in 2019. This recognition followed a place in TIME’s ranking of the World’s Greatest 100 Places in 2018, and the honor of being named Eater’s Restaurant of the Year in 2017.

The Chef

Bailey was born in the Bronx and spent her early childhood in Savannah, Georgia, before returning to New York City to live in Queens. She learned to cook with her mother, grandmothers, aunts and cousins before training at the Institute of Culinary Education in NYC. After a work-study period in Burgundy, France, she spent the next 12 years in a series of jobs in NYC, including time as a personal chef on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. In 2010, she was hired at Prune on the Lower East Side, where under the mentorship of Gabrielle Hamilton she was quickly promoted to Sous Chef and spent four years developing her craft. It was through Hamilton that she met the entrepreneur Morisano, now her business partner. Morisano was looking for a chef to help him convert a former Greyhound Bus Terminal in Savannah into a restaurant, and when Bailey agreed to come and take a look, everything clicked into place and The Grey was born.

In 2019, Bailey won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southeast, an accolade topped in 2022 when she became the first black woman ever to win the James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef.

Restaurant

The Grey opened at the end of 2014 in downtown Savannah, Georgia, in a 1938 art deco Greyhound Bus Terminal that Morisano and Bailey lovingly restored. As the restaurant’s website puts it, “The Grey continues the building’s long tradition of transporting people to a destination, but that destination is now one of elevated hospitality and intrinsic satisfaction.” As a once segregated building now run by a white man and a black woman, the place is rich in historical and cultural significance.

The cuisine at The Grey represents Bailey’s personal take on ‘Port City Southern,’ based on southern comfort food mixed with seafood and other local ingredients and given a multicultural twist, all elevated through the techniques learned over the course of her upbringing and culinary career.

The Grey was Eater’s Restaurant of the Year in 2017 and was included among the World’s Greatest 100 Places by TIME in 2018. In 2019, it was listed by Food & Wine as one of the World’s Best Restaurants.

Together, Bailey and Morisano founded The Grey Spaces hospitality group, which also runs The Grey Market in Savannah.

Recipes and dishes

Bailey creates menus of layered, soulful, flavorful dishes, favoring regional produce, seafood, and meats. She loves browsing old recipe books and often reinterprets historic dishes with their roots in Savannah and the South, throwing in the odd influence from Europe or Africa.

Signature dishes include fish and grits with greens and Creole sauce, based on a childhood favorite; chicken meatballs with buttermilk, chicken jus, and onion; and succotash, a traditional recipe dating from the 17th century made with fresh corn kernels, okra, and lima beans.

Bailey was a featured chef on the sixth season of Netflix's Chef's Table, becoming the first African American chef to star in the show. She was also a guest on season 14 of the popular reality TV show Top Chef.

Together with Morisano she co-authored Black, White and The Grey, a book describing their journey to create The Grey, which explores issues ranging from business and partnership to race, class, culture, and gender.

Bailey also chairs the Edna Lewis Foundation, whose aim is to celebrate the rich history of African American cookery, cultivate a deeper understanding of Southern food and culture, and create opportunities for African Americans in the sector.

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