Atlanta pastry chef Micki Kimberly grew up in Warner Robins, Georgia. In what we locals like to call Middle Georgia. These days she’s a culinary star in Atlanta, the Executive Pastry Chef for Slater Hospitality, and a featured James Beard chef who recently finished the spring menu at the Atlanta fine dining hot spot Rooftop L.O.A.
Now, I know a few folks from Warner Robins. And how she describes it tracks in many ways. “We had no cultural scene to speak of growing up,” shares the talented chef. “Warner Robins is known for our football teams. And there’s a huge Air Force base there. It’s just a sheltered Southern town.”
So how did this Two-Sided Southern force get from small town Georgia to being a top pastry chef in Atlanta? There are a lot of twists and turns in her story, including a stint in an even smaller South Carolina town, moving to Vietnam, saving dogs and cats, working with refugees and coming back to Georgia to roost.
Let’s go way back to find out. Micki’s childhood was spent working on her grandparent’s peach farm, picking okra, tomatoes, and peaches, and helping out at the family fruit stand. At a young age, she was shown how to can vegetables to preserve all the food grown in the summer for the winter. It sparked her love of fresh, local, seasonal ingredients. Even now, Micki still cans when she… ahem, can. She loves making preserves and gets creative with pickling.
All of Micki’s family worked as civilians on the Air Force base in Warner Robins. She initially dreamed of becoming an architect or veterinarian but later got into the culinary arts by happenstance.
“I lived in a tiny little town called McCormick, S.C. for seven years,” says Micki. “I worked at a bar and restaurant in a hotel on the Savannah River on Lake Thurmond. The cook didn’t show up one day. In South Carolina, you have to have food to sell liquor, so I jumped into the kitchen.” She never left.
Photo courtesy of Rooftop L.O.A.
After teaching herself everything she could from cookbooks and culinary dictionaries, she decided to go to culinary school at Le Cordon Bleu. Micki’s approach to food is simple, focusing on quality and seasonality, and preferring locally grown produce.
“We do have a lot of things in the South that they don’t have in the Northeast or on the West Coast. The food culture in the South is very simple. We don’t use a lot of bold spices. We focus on quality, seasonality and the location of the vegetable. I want stuff grown here. Not stuff from another country. You gotta learn how to treat it properly to get the best out of it. Keep its freshness. That’s particular to the South.”
When Micki was a kid, she dreamed of living in Atlanta in a high rise. “Getting out of Warner Robins and living in Atlanta broadened my horizons and that’s why I traveled. I wanted to see the way other people lived. Going to Asia changed how I lived. I wish I had gone sooner,” she says.
Micki bought a one-way ticket to Thailand five years ago and worked with Thai and Burmese women refugees for two months. A civil war in that country meant many women had been sex trafficked. The refugees were going through a three-year hospitality program. “I worked with them in the kitchen. Once they finished that program, they went on to college,” she says proudly.
Then Micki went to Vietnam for eight months working with animal welfare in a cafe at their sanctuary. At the sanctuary’s vegan cafe, she worked closely with the animals. She worked to bring awareness to stopping the dog and cat meat trade that was so prevalent in the country.
Afterward, Micki brought back a lot of that Asian food culture with her to the States and to Slater Hospitality’s suite of restaurants: 9 Mile Station, Rooftop L.O.A., 12 Cocktail Bar and RFD Social. “I’ve always been snooty in my idea that proteins and vegetables must come from the South. It must be seasonal. [My travels] loosened me up a bit and I’m not so rigid in that idea anymore. On the new menu at Rooftop L.O.A. I have quite a bit of Asian influences,” she shares.
Egg coffee was one of the treats the chef had in Vietnam. “The Vietnamese make a thick paste with egg yolks and sugar and they fold it into their coffee. It’s like drinking Tiramisu. On the new menu I made a really playful version of coffee and donuts. One donut looks like a powdered donut, the other like a classic chocolate donut. When you break into those donuts, you get a super rich coffee cream. I get the beans from Vietnam. The other donut is coconut tres leches. It’s cute. A pretty dish.”
In between making beautiful desserts and treats, this Atlanta pastry chef had time for a few Two-Sided Southern lightning round of questions. Here we go:
Who is a Southern chef you admire?
Edna Lewis is the queen mother of Southern cooking. I cooked out of her books quite a bit—fried chicken and stewed greens. She championed these seasonal Southern ingredients.
I’ve worked with chef Mashama Bailey out of Savannah. She won a James Beard award.I did a collaboration with her for a line of Delta First Class meals. I worked on the dessert for that menu. African-American Southern chef out of Savannah.
What is something your parents or family would make that you have great memories around?
My dad was kind of the cook of the family. My parents divorced when I was four years old. I was always in kitchen with my dad. He always had Sunday supper. On Saturday nights he would grill ribeyes and would trim some of the fat off and let me have it every time. That’s a pretty solid core memory. My mom isn’t a great cook. But she has four solid dishes. Her chicken and dumplings are great. Then, her potato salad is so good. She makes her own sweet pickles and it’s a three-day process. For every single family function it is required. She soaks the pickles in lime. She taught me once, but I never have three full days off to do it.
Was there any place in your hometown that was distinctly Southern?
Oh the egg salad sandwich from Larry’s Subs in Warner Robins. The Creekside Catfish house out in Fort Valley was always a family staple.
Favorite high-end southern dish you love: Foie croque monsieur at Ticonderoga Club. It’s my fave Atlanta restaurant.
Favorite down-home southern dish: Good fried chicken. Chicken and dumplings. Fried green tomatoes. A solid, good buttermilk biscuit.
Favorite high-end, hoity toity dessert: Christian Castillo is the Atlanta pastry chef at The Chastain. Best desserts I’ve ever eaten. He was at Atlas. He’s fantastic. His pâte à choux and St. Honoré cake are the best.
Favorite low-brow dessert: Fudge rounds were my favorite when I was a kid. I love ice cream too. Ice cream with “inclusions” in it. Mint chocolate chip ice cream is always a good eat. Inclusions are anything with bits like a chewie brownie.
Favorite high-brow restaurant in the South: Kimball House is definitely my go-to for their caviar and oyster service.
Favorite low-brow restaurant in the South: Waffle House is in regular rotation. Anything on Buford Highway. That’s typically where I eat.
Southern dish you always serve at Easter or Memorial Day? For Easter it’s Hummingbird Cake.
What are some Southern cliches that you totally embody or subscribe to? My accent. I always say y’all and I can never hide from my accent. I never lost it.
Favorite sports teams: I grew up playing softball for 20 years. So the Braves. That was always while I was shilling beans with my grandma watching the Braves.
Favorite drink at a tailgate: Tecate
Are you a theater or concert person? Concert
What are your fave shows or people to see? It’s been a while, but the last concert was BB King. I was a big Dave Matthews Band fan and traveled to see him all over the country.
Most eccentric Southern person you know: My grandma was the kindest. The most generous woman. I don’t come from a lot of money, but her brother was pretty rich. She never left the house without a Chanel bag with pearls and heels on. She was always gifted Chanel purses from my uncle. On the other side was my grandma Ophelia. She worked on the Air Force base. She did so many firsts as a woman out on the base. There was a photo of her on our newspaper and she’s got her finger in the mayor’s face. She made big changes on the base for women.
Grandma Ophelia grew muscadines and scuppernong grapes in her garden. She would make wine from those grapes by burring the bottles in the ground for it to ferment. She used this wine to put in her cakes for sweetness and flavor. Never did she drink it, she never drank a drop of alcohol in her life. But she was definitely known throughout our family for her incredible cakes.
What are some misconceptions you’ve encountered about people from the south? We’re all country, maybe a bit backwards. Kind of redneck. Not all of the south is like that. Some of the stereotypes are true though. Get outside of Atlanta, and it’s a different world. Southerners say this… bless your heart. I have never used it derogatory. I do think that’s a misconception. It wasn’t always a dig or sideways comment. It can be nice too.
