Randy Rayburn
Owner
Sunset Grill, Midtown Cafe, Cabana
Most people first meet Randy Rayburn at one of his nationally renowned restaurants, Sunset Grill in Hillsboro Village, or Midtown Cafe on 19th Avenue south. But they are just as likely to meet him in and around Nashville, giving his time as a philanthropist and community leader. Randy is passionate about giving back to the community. He designates one percent of all sales from his restaurants to non-profit and community organizations. In the last five years alone that has totaled more than $300,000.
An avid supporter of hunger-relief and non-profit arts organizations, Rayburn also passionately cares about Nashville’s economic development. He serves as the Chairman of the Nashville Convention Center and on the Nashville State Community College Board. He was most recently elected to sit on the board of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce.
Rayburn believes that Middle Tennessee prospers as each individual and business succeeds. To that end he has focused many of his efforts in and around the revitalization of Hillsboro Village.
He created the Non-Event Patron’s Party for Nashville’s Table which has raised more than one-million dollars for the expansion of the only local food-rescue and delivery organization in Middle Tennessee. He is also a past president and board member. In addition, you have probably run into him while he was organizing fundraising events such as Taste of the Nation, Taste of the NFL and Generous Helpings. For the last 7 years his Sunset Grill was chosen to represent Nashville at the national Taste of the NFL dinner benefiting United Way.
Rayburn is part of the Leadership Nashville class of 1998 and was nominated for the Mary Katherine Strobel Award for Community Volunteerism the same year. In 2000 he was named Outstanding Volunteer of the Year by the Nashville Society for Fund Raising Executives.
Sunset Grill (Randy Rayburn) was also selected as the single-unit finalist for the National Restaurant Association Neighbor Award in 2001, an award given to recognize the philanthropic efforts of restaurant operations. He was named statewide restaurateur of the year in 2001 and serves on its advisory board.
Read about Randy in the Nashville Business Journal.
Brian Uhl
Executive Chef
Brian Uhl specializes in wild game dishes in the framework of contemporary cuisine. Uhl trained as an apprentice to Sigi Eisenberg, and has also worked under many other noted chefs, including Thomas Keller of the French Laundry, Jean-Louis Palladin in New York, and Boris Keller, a Michelin-star chef of Germany. Since settling in Nashville, he has been associated with Wild Boar and F. Scott’s and with the Opryland and Stouffer Hotels. Brian’s innovative cooking has brought recognition from such specialty publications as World Wine News, Bon Appétit, and Food Arts, as well as The New York Times, USA Today, and GQ, and he has been featured on the Food Network. He has represented the Tennessee Titans at the NFL's Taste of the NFL for the last 5 years and has given his time to several other charity events including Second Harvest Food Drive, March of Dimes Generous Helpings, and Soup Sunday.
At Midtown Cafe, Brian still offers local favorites, but adds his own distinctive flair, such as the Seared Maine Day Boat Scallops over creamed leeks and spinach, finished with tomato chive concasse and balsamic syrup.
Brian serves as Executive Chef at Midtown Cafe. He is also an owner and the Executive Chef at CABANA.
Dustin Pritchett
Chef de Cuisine
Dustin is a second generation Nashville chef, son of Barbara Pritchett (B. Palola’s circa 1985). He began his culinary career in kitchens in Livingston, Montana. In 1995 he got a job at Chico Hot Springs in the morning picking lettuce farmed on the restaurant grounds & quickly climbed the ranks moving to sister restaurant Uncle Looies as kitchen manager, with a brief stint at local competition Livingston Bar & Grill. He spent his last two years in Montana trained by French chef Michelle Fontant to run the night kitchen shift solo in his mothers restaurant Rumours, before moving back to Nashville in 2001. He has been with Sunset Grill since March of 2001 where he started by getting his foot in the door working the pantry station and working his way up. In 2004 he took over as the restaurants chef de cuisine. When he’s not busy meeting the demands of running the restaurants kitchen he is busy meeting the demands of his daughter Zoe & wife Kaarin.
