Executive Chef Christian “Lucke” Bell shares a conversation with Chloé Taylor Brown.

I first met Christian “Lucke” Bell in July 2021 and instantly caught the “family vibe” from him based on the food he generously served me. Well, it wasn’t just for me. Those exquisite dishes that crowded our table that night were for an entire group of us, and even for the whole restaurant of evening diners at Rock Steady, a Caribbean–African inspired restaurant and nightclub. Its unique ambiance offers an immersive sensory sampling of the vibrant cuisines of the West Indies in an upmarket setting in Atlanta, Georgia, where Lucke is executive chef and leader of the kitchen. He takes his exceptional culinary background to lead his team with style, mastery and Chi-Town finesse.

On the fine September day of this conversation, Lucke had invited my husband and me back for a different experience, as Rock Steady was throwing a two-day Chicago-Style Block Party—and wow! It was a legitimate, old-fashioned, uninhibited fun time. There was a DJ on a huge stage in the middle of the street. Caribbean music blasted so I could feel the bass in my body. We danced, drank, ate, laughed, danced again, and met amazing new people. As the sun slowly began to fade, the Rock Steady crew started getting ready to move the party inside, and this was my opportunity to catch Lucke for a precious eight minutes.