Catie Van Slyke’s first passion in cooking was on the savory side. She attended a vocational school, learning culinary technique and kitchen skills. By her senior year, her teacher told her there was nothing more he could share, and suggested she work on pastry skills for the remainder of her schooling.

She’s been a pastry chef ever since, and her latest career turn is the position of pastry chef at The Kimpton Tryon Park, home to Angeline’s and Merchant & Trade. There, she’ll oversee bread production and desserts for hotel and banquet guests as well as bring her signature style of dessert to the hotel’s Italian-inspired restaurant and cocktail bar.

“My thing that I love to do is take something that everyone knows and then add a curve ball into it,” she says. “So adding in savory ingredients, or making it look different or adding something to it that’ll make somebody rethink how they look at a dessert that they’ve known their whole life.”

With a math teacher mom and a dad who works with computers, Van Slyke inherited the mathematical mind necessary for baking. Her creative streak helps her envision creative desserts and bring them to life.

One example currently on the menu at Angeline’s is a pistachio dessert, made to look like a giant pistachio nut. The outer shell is made with colored white chocolate, which reveals a center of pistachio poundcake and pistachio mousse, with sour cherry coulis. At Merchant & Trade, Van Slyke’s menu leans toward nostalgia; one option currently available at the rooftop bar is inspired by a Twix bar.

Van Slyke first came to Charlotte to attend Johnson & Wales, where she graduated with degrees in pastry and service management and also spent time studying pastry at École Nationale Supérieure de Pâtisserie, a renowned pastry school in France.

Her Charlotte resume includes positions at Suarez Bakery, Amelie’s, and the Ritz-Carlton. After a short stint in Chicago working for dessert supplier PreGel, Van Slyke returned to Charlotte and took a position with La Belle Helene in Uptown, conceptualizing and producing the French restaurant’s breads and desserts. Her newest position at the Kimpton brings her back into the hotel world, where she enjoys getting to manage everything from breakfast pastries and breads to plated desserts.

Since moving to Charlotte, Van Slyke says she’s seen the city transition to a place most pastry students had to leave to find a job with a focus on pastry to one where there are positions graduates and interns can focus on their pastry craft.

“When I first moved here, it was really hard to get into a spot; you were either going to be pushed into bakery settings or you were going to be pushed into more like a garde manger/pastry station type of thing,” she says.

With consumers expecting more from bread programs these days, Van Slyke has been able to hire a dedicated pastry team.

“It’s kind of awesome to be able to give these younger chefs and cooks the opportunity that I didn’t necessarily have,” she says.

Van Slyke’s desserts are currently on the menu at Merchant & Trade, and are making their way onto the menu at Angeline’s over the coming days.

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