EXecutive Chef Shane Owens
ABOUT
One of the most inspirational meals of chef Shane Owens life didn’t occur in a MICHELIN-starred restaurant in New York or Paris. Rather, it was aboard a chartered fishing boat in the East China Sea as a member of the U.S. Marine Corps deployed in Japan. Fishing with buddies, the group caught a tuna. The captain, who happened to be a chef, quickly cleaned, prepped and served the just-plucked-from-the-sea sashimi to his crew. “The taste is something I will never forget,” says Owens. “It just melted in my mouth.”
In each kitchen Owens has occupied since, he dedicates himself nightly to replicating that pure and fresh experience for guests. “When the ingredients are that fresh and you can serve something so simply, food has the power to transport you,” he explains. “That’s what I want to do with each plate I create.”
With over a decade now spent in some of Atlanta’s busiest kitchens, Owens’ culinary talents are well-known to the city’s diners. He’s served as executive chef at Rina ATL, Muchacho and in Fifth Group and Castellucci Hospitality Group kitchens, as well as an educational stint at Cooks & Soldiers, learning from Joseph Harrison, now a James Beard semi-finalist working at Aria as executive chef. In August 2025, Owens was named executive chef at Buena Vida Tapas Bar, an Atlanta Beltline favorite for Spanish-inspired tapas.
Executive Chef Shane Owens
The assignment is a perfect fit for Owens, who grew up in the kitchen with his Mexican grandmother Ceila, as she introduced him to mole, enchiladas, tacos, lengua and brothy caldos. “I loved to eat, so I was always in the kitchen with her and my mom, and I learned by watching and asking questions.” After graduating from high school in Dothan, Alabama, Owens enlisted in the Marine Corps, often cooking for his buddies. Later, he used the G.I. Bill to finance his culinary degree from Le Cordon Bleu.
But it was getting his first job in the kitchen as a line cook that provided Owens with hands-on culinary education. At Atlanta’s Cooks & Soldiers, Owens worked beside sous chef Joseph Harrison, who took the time to teach him some tricks of the trade. “He taught me how to taste, how to cut, all of that,” reflects Owens. When Harrison departed for Savannah’s Common Thread (where he would become a 2025 James Beard Best Chef: Southeast semifinalist), Owens was appointed as his replacement. Along the way, Owens also helped out friends Carlo Gan and Mia Orino as they developed their MICHELIN Guide-recommended Filipino phenomenon Kamayan ATL from a series of pop-ups around the city.
Owens credits his military training for bringing precision to his plates and an ability to shake off stress during hectic nights in the kitchen. “Handling pressure is just a part of the job,” he says. “This has always been my dream. I just want to bring smiles to people’s faces and make them happy. I want people to experience that same feeling I had as a kid with my grandma in the kitchen. That’s what it’s all about for me.”
When he’s not at Buena Vida, Shane enjoys testing out his latest culinary creations with his wife Sabrina at their Midtown home and walking his “son” Papi, a boxer mix, on the Atlanta Beltline.
