Eddie Barrett
BeetleCat | Atlanta
april 2023
Growing up in Connecticut, Eddie Barrett spent time visiting seafood shacks along the coast with his friends and family. Barrett started working the line right out of high school, despite knowing next to nothing about cooking. He joined the team at Figs Wood Fired Bistro in Newtown, Connecticut, where he learned everything from butchering to baking. During his four years there, Barrett climbed from line cook to running three of the group’s restaurants.
In 2017, he moved to Atlanta's The Optimist as lead line cook under Rising Stars alums Ford Fry and Drew Belline. He eventually worked his way up to chef de cuisine of both The Optimist and JCT Kitchen, where he got a master class in Southern cooking. When the pandemic hit in 2020, he moved to New York’s Finger Lakes region and joined the team at F.L.X. Table under Chef Christopher Bates. There, Barrett utilized hyper-local products and experimented with fermentation and dry-aging. A few months later, Barrett moved back to Atlanta—the concept of building a menu around the seasons having left a lasting impression on him.
In December 2020, Barrett returned to Rocket Farm Restaurants and began working at King + Duke as executive chef, overseeing the restaurant whole animal butchery program and building strong connections with local farmers. Now, as executive chef of BeetleCat, Barrett has rebuilt the menu with dishes that reflect his culinary experiences and his love for the coastal New England food of his childhood. At BeetleCat, he highlights Georgia products, especially local seafood, like his pan-seared snapper with fennel purée and smoked grapes. Barrett thrives in his leadership role, embracing the opportunity to teach others by leading oyster classes and butchery workshops for his team and the public.
