Schubas Nets a Beard Award-Winning ‘Top Chef’

The owners of Tied House, the dazzling multi-story restaurant connected to Schubas that’s slated for an early 2018 opening, have named a James Beard award winner as chef. Debbie Gold will be in charge of the kitchen at both Tied House and Schubas, the tavern/concert venue in Lakeview. Gold is a Top Chef: Masters alum, appearing on the show in 2010, and she brings a fine-dining background that includes a stint at Charlie Trotter’s along with training in France at various Michelin-starred restaurants.

Gold earned the Beard’s Best Chef: Midwest award in 1999 for her work at The American in Kansas City. She’s still in the process of developing Tied House’s menus, a process Ex-Longman & Eagle chef Matt Kerney had started. Schubas menu will have more of a gastropub-type menu, with typical bar food while Tied House will be “creative modern American cuisine, if you had to put a name on it,” said Gold.

The Tied House menu will have no musical connection, departing from the puns on the old Harmony Grill menu. Gold said the menu will be highly seasonal, though not necessarily quarterly, paying more attention to growing seasons. Gold is excited to work with new local farmers, since she’ll be moving from Kansas City to work on this project.

She says her food leans toward simplicity and isn’t overly fussy. Her classical training in French food means she focuses on execution and the quality of the product and the care taken in preparation. Expect Tied House to have creative food with fine dining ideas but more approachable.

Music reigns at Schubas, and Gold’s favorite bands of the moment include Spoon and Alt-J; she says she leans toward an alternative music taste. She never expected to be working with a music venue. “There’s different kinds of creativity, but it’s still an expression of what you’ve got inside,” Gold said. “I like the music, it’s fun to listen to the music.”