Sunday, August 03, 2008
Food, Q&A

Table talk

Chad Guay of Table 1280 followed his heart—literally—to become a pastry chef

By Hope S. Philbrick

Since graduating from the culinary program at the Art Institute of Atlanta in 2004, Chad Guay has soared in his career, including winning the Rising Star Pastry Chef award from Star Chefs. The Sunday Paper recently talked to the acclaimed pastry chef, who is currently working at Table 1280.

Q When did you decide to focus on pastry?
A When I was in culinary school, I did mainly hot food, but when I took the baking-and-pastry class, I really fell in love with it. In that class, I met my wife, Amanda. She told me she was going to take the advanced class, and I thought, “If she’s going to do it, I’m going to do it, too.” She’s currently the pastry chef at Relish.
     
What’s your specialty?
I just like clean, fresh flavor, nothing over-the-top. I don’t really like to make stuff that’s overly sweet. I like desserts that have some sort of savory component to them. I think salt plays a factor, and seasoning plays a big factor in my desserts.

    For example, right now I’m doing a cornbread pudding, and I’m putting it with black pepper ice cream. It’s a salty pudding with peppery ice cream topped with a blueberry gastrique. It has a very nice tang to it.

    In 2007, I was named a Rising Star Pastry Chef from StarChefs.com—they loved my chocolate infused with smoke from tobacco. They went to pretty much every restaurant in the city, and chefs would do tastings for them. Then they picked 10 chefs out of the city. I was the only pastry chef they picked in Atlanta.

Are you seeing any dessert trends?
There are a lot of olives in desserts, and savory components have been a trend that I’ve seen for a year or two now. It’s really coming into play more and more, especially in Atlanta.

    I change the dessert menu monthly or bimonthly to reflect the season and match the main menu. Or I just get bored with a dessert and decide to change it. I’ll also make changes depending on what products are available. For example, if I can get nectarines that are the best they’re going to be, I’ll make a dessert with them right now.

Is your cookie jar at home always full, with two pastry chefs at your house?
Actually, we don’t eat a lot of dessert at home. I love cooking hot food as well. We’re always cooking something new or trying something different. Desserts don’t really come into our house that often. We like to leave sugar at work. After a long day of eating sugar and tasting things, we want to stay away from it as much as possible.

    Typically, I get to work about 8 or 8:30 in the morning. We have cafés at the museum, so I prepare pastries for them, then set up for lunch, which is served five days a week; then it’s prepping for whatever specials or catering events, then it’s setting up for dinner service. It’s a pretty busy day that usually ends about 8 or 8:30 at night. It’s a long day and is slower early in the week, then gets busier toward the end of the week. I wake up, go to work, come home, go to sleep and then do it all again—can’t beat it! SP
Table 1280 is located at the Woodruff Arts Center. 1280 Peachtree St. NE. 404-897-1280. www.table1280.com.