The Grey Market Savannah’s soul mate fuels Austin with a hearty breakfast, a fast lunch, afternoon libations or Grab ‘n’ Go provisions for everything from a picnic lunch, to dinner for a crowd, all in a fun, casual environment.
The Grey Market has wide-open arms ready to welcome Austinites! Our hospitality starts with our star team of leaders.
Located right downtown, on the ground level of the brand-new Thompson and Tommie Hotels, the restaurants have a foundation in the Port-City Southern food embraced by their sister restaurant, The Grey, in Savannah.
Grey Spaces proudly advocates for fair wages, provides a meaningful benefits package for full-time employees and well as educational resources to help our team continuously grow.
Bonded by a common viewpoint on what makes for delicious food, Johno Morisano and Chef Mashama Bailey partnered to build The Grey in Historic Downtown Savannah.
MANAGING PARTNER
EXECUTIVE CHEF and PARTNER
Open Daily
7am – 10pm
5th St. & San Jacinto
Born in Canada, Kristine came to Austin, Texas, via the Cayman Islands, in 1997.
She was co-executive chef at the modern Tex-Mex restaurant El Chile, one of Texas Monthly’s Best New Restaurants when it opened in 2004. A devoted traveler, Kristine has cooked at Michelin-starred restaurants in Spain, and studied or cooked professionally in Mexico, Morocco, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam.
In 2014, she beat Bobby Flay on his namesake television show — the first woman to do so.
Johno Morisano is the co-founder and managing partner of Grey Spaces, the hospitality group behind restaurants such as the critically acclaimed The Grey and its all-day counterpart The Grey Market in Savannah. At Grey Spaces, Johno oversees guest experience, business growth and strategy while Mashama, the executive chef and co-founder, oversees all culinary creation and operations.
After attending Pace University, Johno joined Price Waterhouse in its entertainment and media practice as a certified public accountant (CPA). After Price Waterhouse, he then dove into the world of startups, spending over twenty years working across the entertainment, media, technology, and art landscapes in a variety of capacities — from operator to investor to business and creative advisor.
Beginning in 2012, with the purchase of an abandoned Greyhound Bus Terminal in Savannah, Georgia, Morisano embarked on an entirely new career path which would take him into the world of hospitality and the national food scene when the Greyhound station became The Grey in 2014. In 2022, Johno and Mashama debuted two new restaurants, the Diner Bar and another outpost of The Grey Market, that showcase the Grey Spaces’ distinct take on Port City Southern fare in the new Thompson Austin.
Morisano has been actively engaged in philanthropy and not-for-profit causes supporting a variety of organizations throughout much of his adult life. He has served as a governor and officer of the National Arts Club and United Nations Women. He is a past officer of the Edna Lewis Foundation, an organization dedicated to preserving its namesake’s legacy in southern and American foodways and in 2019, co-founded The Current, a not-for-profit news source serving Savannah and Coastal Georgia, in memory of a past team member at The Grey.
Together with Mashama, he co-wrote Black, White and The Grey (Ten Speed Press/Penguin Random House), which explores the business partners’ challenges navigating race, class and culture while building businesses, relationships, and community in the South.
When not at work, he is with his wife Carol, their dogs and likely eating food, drinking wine, and then exercising it off so he can start all over again.
Mashama Bailey is the 2022 James Beard Foundation Outstanding Chef and co-founder of Grey Spaces, the hospitality group behind restaurants such as the critically acclaimed The Grey restaurant and its all-day counterpart The Grey Market in Savannah. In 2022, she and Grey Spaces co-founder/business partner Johno Morisano opened two new restaurants, the Diner Bar and The Grey Market Austin, that showcase the Grey Spaces’ distinct take on Port City Southern fare in the new Thompson Austin.
Born in the Bronx and raised in Queens with maternal roots from Waynesboro, Georgia, Mashama attended grammar school in Savannah. She first learned to cook at the hands of the women in her family and her formal education includes the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) in New York City as well as LaVarenne in Burgundy, France. Prior to The Grey, Mashama’s career includes a dozen years cooking throughout New York City, the last four of which were at Prune on Manhattan’s Lower East Side under the tutelage of Gabrielle Hamilton. In 2019 and with the premier of Netflix’s Chef’s Table Season 6, Mashama became the first African American chef to star on that show.
Together with Morisano, Mashama co-wrote Black, White and The Grey (Ten Speed Press/Penguin Random House) which explores the business partners’ challenges navigating race, class and culture while building businesses, relationships, and community in the South.
A 2022 James Beard Foundation Outstanding Chef nominee, Mashama (2019 JBF Best Chef: Southeast) is the chairwoman of the Edna Lewis Foundation, whose mission is to honor and extend the legacy of Edna Lewis by creating opportunities for African Americans in the fields of cooking, agriculture, food studies, and storytelling.
