CHEF’S TABLE

By Iyana Jones-Reese

WE ASKED THESE FOUR INDUSTRY PROS …

WAS THERE ONE MEAL OR MOMENT THAT MADE YOU THINK, "I WANT TO BE A CHEF"?

“

My aunt taught me how

to make yeast rolls when I was 10, so cooking was always around me. I loved it … I always baked items for gifts, so my friends were used to, and expected, homemade sweets. [One] Christmas, most [people] I gifted chocolates to asked if they could order boxes for their gift-giving that year! That was the moment I realized that was my niche, and chocolates were the path for me. I had always wanted to cook [and] bake … but never got a spark till that moment. I made my way to Hillsborough and opened my little shop in November 2007.

Matthew Shepherd Matthew's Chocolates 22

chapelhillmagazine.com

April 2020

The one thing that

I started working in

attracted me to the industry in general was the teamwork aspect of family meals together around the holidays. There was one service here 10 years ago when the executive chef at the time allowed me to kind of expedite and run the line. I was in charge of the whole service, and just seeing everybody come together and being a part of that team was, I think, the moment where I really decided that’s something I want to do.

cousins actually eat some of the bakery items that I made. That's probably what [cemented] it for me. They come every year for Christmas. [I was] just creating some different things in the kitchen, using yogurt and sweet potatoes instead of the traditional butter and [a lot] of sugar and everything. Seeing their faces light up kind of did it.

kitchens at 13 and fell in love with two things. No. 1, the sense of creation. People were taking all these ingredients and making them into something completely new. No. 2, people get really happy when they eat good food, [and] there is something magical about that. … Fast forward to 2015 [when] my wife and I fulfill[ed] a dream of creating a place to bring people together in our community. [Now,] we have Breakaway. CHM

Stephanie Sherman Savor Eatery and Bakery

Andy Pignatora Breakaway Cafe

Jon Dowse 411 West

I think [it was] seeing my