Heard: Kitchen playlists from Atlanta chefs Claudia Martinez and Sam Pinner

This story is part of a quarterly series on restaurant kitchen and back-of-house playlists, featuring music selections from local chefs and bartenders.

Restaurant dining room playlists are carefully curated to set the mood for guests, choreographed to follow the peaks and valleys of service. But music in the kitchen plays an equally important role, and one that starts well before the first people are seated in the dining room.

Starting hours ahead of service, music keeps the kitchen energized as staff prep ingredients, accept deliveries, and take inventory. When service begins, music provides the rhythm for chefs to keep pace while cooking and expediting umpteen dishes per hour. At closing, music soundtracks cleaning and powering down kitchen equipment for the day.  

For this installment of “Heard,” Atlanta chefs Claudia Martinez of Bar Ana and Sam Pinner of Sammy’s and Broad Street BBQ share their thoughts on the importance of music in the kitchen before, during, and after service, along with songs playing in the back of house at their restaurants.

Heard: Kitchen playlists chefs Max Hines and Jarrett Stieber

Claudia Martinez of Bar Ana

Having taken over the former El Bar space beneath El Ponce last year, the owners of Bar Ana take music seriously. No longer a dance club but a dessert and cocktail bar, you’ll often find DJs manning the booth just off the dining room. Toward the midnight hour on the weekends, Bar Ana’s compact seating area might even become a makeshift dance floor.

Co-owned by award-winning pastry chef Claudia Martinez, music was always part of the plan when she and her business partners were developing the concept behind Bar Ana. But while music in the dining room leans into beat-heavy rhythms meant to keep the room energized, choosing the back-of-house playlist each night comes down to whoever is working in the kitchen.

“The dining room has a specific genre of music we like to follow based off our menu, such as Afro beats, hip hop, Latin, and reggaeton,” Martinez said. “The kitchen playlists are based on each individual’s music taste.”

In the morning, sous chef Ella Holloway chooses what the kitchen listens to while they prep for service. During service in the evenings, Martinez tends to select the kitchen playlist. She opts for more upbeat, high-tempo music or pop and club tunes from the 1990s during evening service to keep things flowing steadily in the kitchen.

“It helps make it feel not like work and creates a fun environment,” said Martinez of choosing the right music for working in the kitchen, whether prepping for service or closing down Bar Ana for the night.

Related stories:
• Pastry chef Claudia Martinez opening dessert and cocktail bar
• Barbecue restaurant joins El Tesoro next year in South Downtown

Sam Pinner of Sammy’s, Broad Street BBQ

Longtime friends and Paideia School alumni Chef Sam Pinner and Jason Furst always knew they wanted to open a restaurant together. They did just that when they opened Sammy’s sandwich shop in Adair Park last year, following it up with barbecue joint Broad Street BBQ in South Downtown earlier this summer.

While music plays a key role in the dining rooms and bars at both restaurants, it’s a different story in the kitchen.

“The dining room is where people come to relax, eat, drink, and be merry. The kitchen is a workspace where we are cooking with big knives and hot grease under constant time pressure [to get food out],” Pinner said.

“I want to hear when the water has evaporated from the pan and something goes from steaming to frying while my back is turned,” explained Pinner, who prefers the din of kitchen noises to that of music during service. “We also have to communicate a lot and yelling over music adds unnecessary chaos.”

But before and after service, Pinner lets his team choose what they listen to in the kitchen. Music in the kitchens at Sammy’s and Broad Street BBQ ranges from ranchera, norteño, and banda to cumbia and reggaeton.

“Music helps your mind wander while you’re doing repetitive prep work before service, like shucking cases of corn, or after service, while you’re scrubbing the flat top,” Pinner said. “But once service starts, the ticket printer performs a cappella.”