Cam: Jade was one of the designers pitching for the renovation of that place. She walked into my kitchen that day, and I couldn’t string two words together. She literally took my breath away. I would have hired her even if she was a talentless hack.

Juanita: [smiling] I guess it’s a good thing she was talented, then.

Cam: So darn talented. She nailed the design, and then she helped me execute it on a shoestring budget. Later, she pushed me to expand that first shop into a brand, one that’s timeless and recognizable, where people walk through the door and know immediately they’re in a Lasky restaurant. That’s all because of her.

Juanita: Sounds like building your business was a team effort.

Cam: Since day one. I mean, any decent chef can toss some meat on a grill, but Jade is the reason I went from one shop to five in the span of as many years, why I became known as Atlanta’s Steak King. I owe every bit of my success to her. And on the flip side, everything I did was for her, to make her proud.

Juanita: And yet, according to your former general manager, Flavio Garcia, you have no plans to continue after the fire at Bolling Way. You will not be reopening there or anywhere else in the city.

Cam: Lasky steak houses are a thing of the past. I guess you could say I’m relinquishing my crown.

Juanita: Atlanta’s foodies will be sad to hear it.

Cam: They’ll survive. There are plenty of other places in town that’ll charge them a hundred bucks for some meat and potatoes.

Juanita: I don’t understand. How does shutting down honor all the work Jade did to build you up?

Cam: How does anything I’ve done to build my brand honor her? When I got into this business, it wasn’t because I loved cooking. It was because I loved watching people respond to the food I cooked for them. Seeing their eyes roll up into their head at the first bite of the perfect truffled potato. How I could create this...cocoon of good wine and good food, where they’d sit for hours and not notice the dining room had cleared out. That was why I became a chef, to make people feel that way.

Juanita: Why?

Cam: Why what?

Juanita: Why did you love eliciting those kinds of reactions to your food?

Cam: [laughs] You really get to the heart of it, don’t you? But okay... [long pause] I liked it because it was the only time I saw my father be kind to my mother, when she cooked him a good meal.

Juanita: That sounds...