In the ’90s, Shaun Doty used to walk his boss’s dogs. That boss was legendary chef Günter Seeger. Doty would leave after service at the Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead, where he worked as saucier under Seeger, and drive with his coworker Dave Roberts (later of Community Q fame) to let the dogs out. They “would attack us,” he recalls. “Every time.”

He and Roberts survived by closing themselves off in Seeger’s kitchen. Cracking open beers one night, they noticed something: He didn’t own a single cookbook. In fact, the only book Doty saw in the house was Madonna’s Sex. “So how did he come up with all of his menu ideas?” Doty says. “He’s the most creative person I’ve ever met. How did he do what he did? He obviously drew inspiration from the simple things.”

Doty, 56, says he’s applied that principle to his own career: Don’t be derivative. Always return to the basics. Also, don’t let the dogs win.

Photography by Ben Rollins

After leaving the Ritz-Carlton, Doty worked in Michelin-starred kitchens in Belgium and France, returning to Atlanta in 1997 when Seeger tapped him to become executive chef of Mumbo Jumbo downtown. Six years later, he skyrocketed to fame with MidCity Cuisine, a classic brasserie in Midtown lauded by Gourmet and Bon Appétit. He eventually followed that up with Shaun’s in Inman Park, which Esquire named a Best New Restaurant of 2006. “This was when the Atlanta culinary scene was just emerging,” Doty recalls. “I’m proud to be part of the old guard—people like Anne Quatrano and Scott Peacock—who were pushing the envelope and bringing attention to our community as a culinary destination.”

He opened Bantam & Biddy in Ansley Mall in 2012; the Southern-inspired diner remains a beloved neighborhood institution. In 2017, he debuted a steakhouse and bistro, The Federal, which was named a James Beard semifinalist for Best New Restaurant. Still, times were changing, and Doty could feel the shift. From his perspective, Atlanta was by then jammed with ambitious young chefs who could troll the internet for successful restaurant trends, replicate them, and use social media to push their ventures. Doty says he doesn’t hate on them. “It’s just a different generation.”

Photography by Ben Rollins

Photography by Ben Rollins

He took a break from opening new restaurants, focusing on Bantam & Biddy, private chef work, and consulting. Then, in late 2024, he got a call: The new owners of Barnsley Resort (just over an hour’s drive northwest of Atlanta, outside Rome) wanted to hire him as the property’s culinary adviser. South Street Partners (owners of Kiawah Island and Palmetto Bluff, among others) had recently purchased the Barnsley; already known for its Fazio-designed golf course, cottage-style accommodations, and the ruins of a historic estate, once owned by shipping magnate and cotton broker Godfrey Barnsley, it needed a food-and-beverage reboot.

“The resort has always been very successful at weddings and corporate retreats, but they wanted to rebrand it for leisure travel,” Doty says. “It needed to have the edginess of a restaurateur that competes in the Atlanta market.” Doty says he signed on because he was given “so much creative freedom” and because the collaboration made sense to him: He believes the restaurant industry is moving into a new phase in which business developers partner with chefs to create new concepts, sharing in the risks and rewards. (For example, Mike Lata, owner of Charleston’s Fig and The Ordinary, has a similar role at Kiawah Island Club.)

Doty was tasked with overhauling the hotel’s signature restaurant, set in a renovated 1854 farmhouse, but he says he came on board as the interior design, graphics, and marketing teams were close to the finish line, and was encouraged to take ownership of the final details. He also participated in the naming process, though he says he can’t take credit for the final “brilliant” name, Jules, inspired by the original estate owner’s daughter, Julia Barnsley. “We created a bit of mythology around her,” Doty says. As the story goes, she was an educated woman who traveled through Europe and Asia, then returned to her roots in north Georgia. “I took those influences and added them to the menu. It’s Southern cuisine reflecting Jules’ travels and adventures.”

Photography by Ben Rollins

Photography by Ben Rollins

The menu reflects Doty, too. Atlantans who have followed him through the years
will instantly recognize his local pork schnitzel topped with Vidalia onion salad, peanuts, and the farmhouse cheese Sweet Grass Dairy Thomasville Tomme. He’s served a variation of it on many menus since debuting it at MidCity Cuisine. “It just has staying power,” he says. Jules also features his signature Music Paper Bread, a traditional Sardinian flatbread he tops with seasonal produce (arugula, dandelion greens) from the resort’s garden.

He’s trying new things, too. He ordered a Josper charcoal grill from Barcelona that he uses to sear local trout, Rohan duck, and prime steaks. “It’s a primitive machine, but it’s fun,” he says. “You really have to be in the moment and manage your coals, and I love that. It also makes the best burger you’ll ever have.”

David Thompson Studio, the firm behind the Amalfi-inspired design at Atlanta’s Indaco, revamped the restaurant with a swanky new bar and cocktail lounge, French-inspired furniture, and handmade mirrors. A historic oil portrait of Julia Barnsley anchors the space. Doty was involved in all of it. “You would not believe how much time and energy we put into just getting the lighting right,” he says. “We wanted to carve out our own unique identity as an 1850s farmhouse reimagined as a luxury dining experience.”

Doty still splits his professional time between Bantam & Biddy’s four locations and Jules, staying in one of the property’s cottages when he comes to the resort—which, he says, is often. He can feel his mood shift as soon as he exits I-75 in Adairsville. Four lanes narrow to two. Pastures unfurl into the horizon. When he pulls into the property’s entrance, with the golf course to his left and rolling fields to his right, he takes a deep breath. “It’s uncommonly beautiful,” he says. “That’s inspiring.” And as he learned from his boss long ago, drawing creativity from life’s simple things often yields the best results.

This article appears in our February 2026 issue.

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