When you walk into Cattle Shed Wine and Steak Bar in Alpharetta, you may expect a stuffy, masculine establishment with little more than steak and potatoes.
What you’ll find instead is an open atmosphere, a welcoming staff of mostly women and queer people, and a menu of homemade pastas, unique seafood dishes like grilled octopus, crab-stuffed mushrooms, lobster and shrimp mac and cheese, and, yes, steak and potatoes.
In her five years as executive chef, Liv Hurst has transformed the restaurant. Hurst told Georgia Voice that Cattle Shed is a reflection of her humble beginnings, determination, and open-mindedness.
“I want people to feel as though they’re coming into my home and I’m cooking for [them],” she said. “We’re not the white tablecloth [experience], we’re not stuffy. You can come in a tank top and baseball hat and still get the amazing experience.”
A thrice adopted child born and raised in Atlanta, Hurst first found herself in the restaurant industry while at Agnes Scott College. While her grades struggled, her love for food grew until she decided to drop out and grow her culinary career. Since then, she has worked at casual restaurants like Anatolia in Downtown Atlanta and fine dining establishments like Atlanta Fish Market and Kyma in Buckhead.
Hurst came to Cattle Shed as a sous chef in 2021 on the advice of her girlfriend, whose mom was a server there. Two months after being hired, the executive chef quit, and Hurst was offered the job.
“They sat me down, they offered me the job, and I go, ‘Are you sure?’ They go, ‘Why do you ask that?’ I’d never done this before,” she said. “I said I could cook, I could order, I can do all those things, but I’ve never been the one in charge. Sean [Yeremyan, the proprietor of Cattle Shed] always says that me asking ‘why’ was the reason he knew I was the right choice.”
Despite having no formal culinary training, Hurst has been wildly successful in her career – she won Food Network’s “Chopped” in 2022 – but not without struggle. As a queer woman in a male-dominated industry, she said she has to “fight a little harder.”
“It’s definitely not easy, especially now, to be in a position of power and to be the only female at the table,” she said. “I start from the bottom and work my way up everywhere I go.”
It’s Hurst’s background and hard work that makes the restaurant what it is. With an open-concept kitchen, food made with a variety of diets in mind, and an unwavering dedication to people-first hospitality, Cattle Shed warmly welcomes everyone who walks through its doors.
To learn more about Cattle Shed, visit cattleshedwinebar.com.
Related stories:
• Red Phone Booth team opening three new Downtown Atlanta restaurants
• That’s right, a second location of Chops Lobster Bar will open at Centennial Yards