{Juniper chef-owner John Perkins}
Cassy Vires, who took the top toque earlier this year as head chef of Juniper, departed the restaurant Saturday, June 20. Chef-owner John Perkins will fill the role in the interim, citing a desire to take a firmer role in the kitchen at his restaurant.
“Cassy’s a very talented, very intelligent lady, and I know she’s going to do well at whatever she picks next. I’m excited to see what is next for her,” Perkins said. “We have parted ways, (but) it’s not a nasty situation.” Vires did not return requests for comment.
Perkins cited creative differences in the two chefs’ vision for the menu, which he is revamping in the wake of Vires’ departure. It will be unveiled early next week. “Pretty much everything on the menu will be replaced or rethought a little bit,” he said. “Our stated vision for the restaurant is New Southern food inspired by the traditions of the region. The idea is that each dish has some kind of tether that ties it to the South.”
Likely menu additions include a white gazpacho made with boiled peanuts, a fried bologna plate with pimento cheese and pickles, a four-beet salad tossed with togarashi-spiced corn nuts and a more traditional take on the kitchen’s ribs, which will now be dry-rubbed, smoked and served over Sea Island red peas with Carolina-style mustard-based sauce.
Since Vires took the helm in January, Perkins remained relatively hands-off in the kitchen, seeking to devote additional time to his family. Yet he said he began to feel he hadn’t adequately communicated his vision for the menu to Vires and his staff.
“Being of the same mind about that has been a bit of struggle for the two of us,” he said. “I kind of put her in a tough position of basically trying to replicate my vision for things while I wasn’t as present and as involved as I should have been.”
Though he’s bringing another chef in the near future (he declined to name the person), Perkins said he plans to have more of a hand in the kitchen’s everyday operations. “I will definitely be involved … more than I have been ever in the kitchen,” he said. “I’m actually really excited about it.”
-photo by Jonathan Gayman
This article appears in June 2015.