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Black, White, and The Grey
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Black, White, and The Grey

The Story of an Unexpected Friendship and a Beloved Restaurant

Mashama Bailey and John Morisano
Lorena Jones Books, 2021
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Eye Opening
  • Engaging
  • Inspiring

Recommendation

How did two very different people come together to create one of America’s most celebrated restaurants? In this captivating co-autobiography, Mashama Bailey, a Black chef from Queens, and John O. Morisano, a white entrepreneur from Staten Island, explore their experiences as business partners and the relationship between race, gender, class and food in the Deep South culture of Savannah, Georgia. Though dozens of books explore unconscious bias and the race and class struggle in America, Bailey and Morisano’s tale of founding The Grey restaurant packs a unique, emotionally powerful punch.

Summary

“Johno” Morisano bought a run-down building in Savannah that would become The Grey restaurant. 

In 2011, after visiting several southern cities, Morisano and his wife Carol fell in love with Savannah, Georgia. The city’s combination of art, architecture and inclusiveness was something they didn’t find in Charleston or other southern cities. Morisano, a New York accountant and entrepreneur, purchased a historic, dilapidated Jim Crow-era building in Savannah: a formerly racially segregated Greyhound bus depot. This run-down garbage-filled space would, with much time, money and struggle, become a nationally-celebrated restaurant.

Initially, Morisano wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with the Martin Luther King Blvd building. The former depot stood at an unofficial intersection: White and affluent historic Savannah was out the front door, and the Black district with its government housing, poverty and crime was out back. 

One evening, over a glass of wine with his wife, Carol, Morisano floated the idea of opening a restaurant in the space. Carol was shocked. Though a longtime food...

About the Authors

Mashama Bailey and John O. Morisano own and operate The Grey and The Grey Market, in Savannah, Georgia and have gained awards as one of the nation’s best restaurants, and for Bailey, one of its best chefs. 

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