Chef Joe Shirley is weighing his many options after losing his job

They say that when one door closes, another opens.

Chef Joe Shirley, the former executive chef at Kansas City’s Federal Reserve and the creator of the Uberdine pop-up dining events, wasn’t quite convinced of this platitude when his new employer, the Kansas City Club, closed its doors last month.

Shirley, who started his new position last January, had been unprepared for the turn of events. But  shortly after losing his job, he took off on a planned trip to Bermuda with his wife, Carolina.
“We were there for a wedding,” Shirley says, “but it gave me the chance to decompress a little bit.”

But by this point, Shirley was being inundated with job offers. “The phone started ringing as soon as the Pitch story was posted on the web,” he says. “I’m debating which offer I should take or to focus on my Uberdine business and just take that to the next level, doing that full-time. I’ve gotten some great new private chef clients.”

Shirley won’t say which restaurants are courting him, but he did accept a consulting job with the soon-to-open Standard Pour, the David Sederholm-owned bistro and bar slated for a soft open this weekend in the former Boozefish space (1511 Westport Road).

“I’ve been doing menu consulting for David and Standard Pour’s chef Travis Meeks,” Shirley says. “We’re opening during Porchfest on Saturday,” he says, “with a buffet of select menu items. But the official opening day will be Thursday, June 18.”

Shirley’s next Uberdine event is scheduled for Saturday, August 8, at a still-undisclosed location (“It’s in midtown,” Shirley says) and has a “Farm Fresh” theme.

“I’m re-establishing relationships with local farmers and purveyors,” he says. “When I was working at the Federal Reserve, security was very tight. It wasn’t like farmers could come to the back door. We had to use only approved vendors. But now I’m finding amazing produce and eggs from local farmers.”

For more information on Uberdine events, click here.