Chad McGuire is an improviser at heart-in his kitchen and when he's playing music. A non-traditionalist with a penchant for things "out of left field," McGuire compares his two loves. "It's like a band-if they're any good," he says with a wry smile. "Each musician adds a line and it gets better. There are the basic ingredients-a burger, for example-and I twist it so it's not the same. It's a building process. It turns itself into something."
This approach has been shaping and enlivening Buddy's Bar and Grill for the last two years that McGuire has been the executive chef for restaurateur Debby Long's second endeavor. McGuire and Long, as well as the staff at Buddy's, have been geared toward bringing seasonal items and local produce as well as innovative menu items to Buddy's, but even McGuire admits, it's only now really starting to take shape.
Hailing from Ashland, Ky., McGuire picked up his out-of-the-box mentality while in positions at Louisville restaurants like Lynn's Paradise CafÈ, but he admits in his search for the opportunity, "I've always wanted to use creativity as the main focus."