Philip Bailey-Anderson, Afternoon’s head chef, feels rewarded cooking for the community that raised him.
The 35-year-old Gainesville native has been running the kitchen of one of Gainesville’s most popular brunch places for two years.
After beginning his culinary journey by participating in a cooking program at Eastside High School, Bailey-Anderson attended Johnson & Wales University in North Miami for culinary school.
He spent a few years in Chicago for the opportunity to cook for a big market, but he ultimately decided to return to Gainesville to be with family.
Bailey-Anderson found returning to his hometown to be a completely different experience from growing up here. He is more conscious about the way businesses and the community work together, he said.
One perk he enjoys is the way restaurants can work with local produce and farms in Gainesville. He enjoys taking advantage of those resources to create new items on the menu.
“We were trying to figure out Valentine’s Day in the daytime,” Bailey-Anderson said. “I did just like something very simple, something shareable and just something sweet.”