Executive pastry chef Charmain Ware-Jason After five years at Tiny Lou’s, executive pastry chef Charmain Ware-Jason has departed the French brasserie and taken over the dessert program at Murphy’s, one of Atlanta’s most enduring neighborhood restaurants. Rather than reinvent the menu, she’s approaching it with restraint, working within a framework shaped by longtime staples like key lime pie, Tollhouse pie, and the Bonzo, the restaurant’s famously indulgent layering of brownie, cheesecake, and chocolate mousse. This comes less than a year after founder Tom Murphy retired, selling the restaurant to father-son team Gregg and Matt McCarthy. We spoke with Ware-Jason about the move and what changes to expect at Murphy’s in the future. When did you leave Tiny Lou’s? About eight to nine weeks ago, I took two days off. When I returned to Tiny Lou’s, I was told they could no longer afford to keep me on as an executive pastry chef while keeping their doors open. I already had a trip planned to Paris, so I went. I ate every pastry I could find and spent more than four hours in the Louvre. It was a really special experience. When I got back, I started applying for jobs. I submitted an application to Murphy’s at 9 p.m., and by the next morning, I already had an email from Matt and Gregg. We met soon after. I started at Murphy’s about four weeks ago, and it has been a very easy transition, largely because of the management and the staff. What’s it like to go from a trendy French brasserie to a longstanding modern American restaurant? Murphy’s has been a classic for the past 45 years. It is a generational place, a staple in Atlanta and in Virginia-Highland. It is where you celebrate birthdays, marriages, and the birth of a child. It is a place that feels like home. I spent five years at Tiny Lou’s, but Murphy’s offers such a fantastic environment to work in. Everyone operates as a unified family to keep things running smoothly. The neighborhood and clientele are also very family-oriented, and many employees have been there for years. That means a lot to me. Mocha cherry bouchon with black cherry compote, amaretto, citrus, whipped coffee ganache, and almond brittle How do you approach putting your touch on the menus at Murphy’s? My goal is to earn the trust of customers before making any major changes to the items they know and love. I want to bring things into a more modern era while respecting what already works. I am slowly introducing additional flavors and menu items. What changes have you made so far? I added a banana sticky toffee dessert—a banana sponge cake with miso caramel, vanilla ice cream, and a vanilla wafer almond crunch. I always like to include some kind of textured crunch on the plate. It has been selling extremely well. I created a mocha cherry bouchon with black cherry compote, amaretto, citrus, whipped coffee ganache, and almond brittle. We now sell a chocolate chip cookie at lunch—a 4-ounce cookie for $5. It has a crisp edge with a gooey center, made with a mix of semisweet and dark chocolate. It is the first recipe I ever wrote. Murphy’s is a place built on nostalgia. These are the kinds of desserts people grew up enjoying, and I think the flavors really resonate with the clientele. What else will you be introducing to Murphy’s? We are planning to introduce bread service soon, likely featuring brioche. I see Murphy’s as a place that appreciates cornbread, so I want to stay true to Southern traditions while refining them. I am also experimenting with ideas like a burrata bread layered with herb butter and burrata throughout. I want the bread service to feel different between lunch and dinner so that guests notice a transition. At brunch, we serve biscuits and muffins to every table. I rotate different flavor profiles, such as banana nut, white chocolate, peaches and cream, and blueberry-lemon. I am exploring how far I can push flavor combinations within that format. After spending so much time working with French techniques at Tiny Lou’s, this feels like a return to my Southern roots. What else do you have going on? I am also part of the New South, a collective of Black chefs in Atlanta that includes Demetrius Brown of Bread Butterfly and Robert Butts of Auburn Angel. We host dinners, events, and pop-ups, including some at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. On September 16, I am hosting Suga After Dark at VinoTeca wine shop. It will be a three-course dessert and wine pairing, with wines curated by Janeen Jason. The theme is the Dirty South, representing everything Atlanta means to me. There will be a noshing table featuring some of my favorite things, like charcuterie. Tickets are $75. As a Black female stepping into a restaurant founded by a white Irish man, what has that dynamic been like for you so far? Overall, things seem to be going well. During Summerfest, I set up a dessert table at the bar and spent time in the dining room greeting guests. People were excited to meet me and try my desserts. There’s a lot of diversity in the kitchen. Color is not acknowledged. It’s teamwork that matters. The post Sweet shifts at Murphy’s appeared first on Atlanta Magazine. ...read more read less