A sour plum buttermilk pound cake. Photo by Justin Burke-Samson

Justin Burke-Samson, former executive pastry chef at Kindred Restaurant and Hello, Sailor (and Unpretentious Palate contributor), is opening a bakery in Davidson.

He’s partnered with Tara Ragan, owner of Gâteau on Main, to re-concept the bakery and take over its creative direction. Gâteau will close to the public on Sunday for a month, and when it reopens, it will have a new interior, menu, and name: Bonjour, Y’all Bakery.

The name hints at the playful inspiration of the bakery, which will combine the vibrant personalities of New Orleans and Charleston with French technique. It’s also a fitting greeting for the space, which is inside of an old house on Main Street.

On the menu are Burke-Samson’s signature homey desserts, but with a more detailed presentation. The brownies, for example, will be decorated with buttercream and meringues.

“We are Southern hospitality, humble Southern, but we are driven by French technique and cooking,” he says, calling Bonjour, Y’all a “restaurant-quality to-go-home bakery.”

In the morning, guests will see pastry cases full of breakfast items, including coffee cakes, croissants, old-fashioned doughnuts, and biscuits. Burke-Samson’s beloved Pop Tarts will also be making a return. Breads will be for sale throughout the day — including biscuits, corn breads, country loaves, and baguettes — and the case will add more savory items during the afternoon, such as tomato or roasted caramelized onion tarts and asparagus and brie croissants. Tarts, pies, cobblers, cakes, and cookies will be popped into the case closer to the afternoon, as well. We’re itching to try the burnt caramel fig blondie.

Bonjour, Y’all will also have a small market section, selling jams, curds, and house-made pimento cheese as well as wine by the bottle. The bakery’s wine and beer selection will include small production vineyards and local beers.

The partnership between Ragan and Burke-Samson came about through Kindred owner Katy Kindred, who advised Ragan to reach out to her now-business-partner about consulting. Burke-Samson, who spent hours after long shifts at Kindred or Hello, Sailor putting together business plans and menus, dreamed of opening a bakery in Davidson after he left the kitchen, but couldn’t find the financial backing. Ragan, who had that, needed creative direction, and the decision to work together happened quickly.

“I’m still kind of in shock, but I’m realizing too that if I had not done all this work prior to knowing that I was going to have something, I wouldn’t have been able to do this so quickly,” Burke-Samson says. “I would be building a business plan, or I would be building a menu. I had all those things done. It was just, I was waiting for that right opportunity. And it’s here, and it’s crazy, but I’m ready to finally do it.”

The restaurant’s grand opening will take place in September after staff training and interior renovations, which will include redecorating the 700-square-foot bakery to reflect Bonjour, Y’all’s New Orleans/Charleston inspiration. For now, Burke-Samson will be working with the existing staff, but he and Ragan are implementing inclusive policies, cross-training, and profit-sharing to help create a healthier work environment.

Burke-Samson’s title will be pastry chef/owner, and once the bakery is running smoothly, he will be in a management role instead of in the kitchen daily. He eventually hopes to hire a chef de cuisine.

As for his work with Unpretentious Palate, Justin will continue writing for us, with a slightly tweaked coverage area to ensure there’s no conflict of interest in his work (even though we trust him whole-heartedly!). He’ll no longer write about pastry chefs, bakeries, or restaurants with strong dessert programs, or cover the Davidson area.  —Kristen Wile