Jamie Turner, former pastry chef at Earl’s Grocery, has taken a position as pastry chef at The Asbury. She’ll begin in the new position in a few weeks, staying on at Earl’s to help through the Thanksgiving holiday.

Turner says Asbury executive chef Mike Long reached out to her to see if she knew anyone who might be interested in the pastry chef position. She realized the position could offer her the opportunity to get back to some of the things she had been missing at Earl’s, including creating plated desserts and using almost exclusively local ingredients. Former pastry chef Miranda Brown left The Asbury earlier this month.

“I have the itch to get back on the line and get back to plated desserts,” Turner says, joking that she’s been watching a lot of Kitchen Nightmares lately.

Long and Turner worked together at Bonterra, when Long was sous chef there and Turner was the pastry chef. Turner will oversee The Asbury’s breakfast service several days a week, as well as banquet pastries and the restaurant’s formal dessert program.

The fall menu has already been created, so Turner will start off with dessert specials and debut her plated desserts on the next seasonal menu.

Turner, one of the founding members of Soul Food Sessions, is also creating the desserts for The Hot Box, chef Mike Bowling’s restaurant inside Concord brewery Southern Strain Brewing. She was named Pastry Chef of the Year by the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association earlier this fall, a title also won by The Asbury’s two previous pastry chefs, Brown and Jossie Lukacik. —Kristen Wile

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