Teryi grew up in the kitchens of her mother and grandmother in Pickens, SC, following the solid example of the home cooks in her life, as well as the great Julia Child on TV. Cookbooks have always been her passion, her source for technique, inspiration, and creativity. Her first job in Greenville was in the kitchen of Bistro Europa, a Main Street forerunner in chef-driven food. From there, she spent a decade as the pastry chef for Table 301 (where she made 3 billion white chocolate banana cream pies), finally becoming the chef de cuisine for her own restaurant concept, Passerelle Bistro, the French-inspired restaurant in Falls Park.
While there, she was the first chef to partner with M. Judson in our first Sunday Sit Down Supper with Pat Conroy. We wept when she told her story of making Pat’s recipe for pound cake, along with everybody else seated around her gracious table. In 2016, Teryi was named South Carolina’s Chef Ambassador.
We count ourselves incredibly lucky to have tempted her back from semi-retirement to run the show for Camilla Kitchen. Her food is seasonally-inspired genius.