Chef Amy Tornquist has been recognized nationally for her North Carolina cuisine, first at her own Sage & Swift Gourmet Catering Company, then the Nasher Museum Café. Now, she is pleased to offer her distinctive North Carolina cooking at her own Watts Grocery.

Amy’s locally spun seasonal dishes have been treasured by fans for years and received rave reviews in Food & Wine, Country Home, and Elegant Bride.  Her menu at Watts Grocery offers a mix of classic favorites and Carolina tradition, all defined by what’s grown locally and seasonally.

Amy’s taste for local, seasonal foods began at an early age, but it wasn’t until her college years at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill that she first held a knife in a professional kitchen. She let her favorite restaurant dictate her first job, and became a chef-in-training at the now legendary Crook’s Corner. There in 1986 under the tutelage of the late Bill Neal, she cooked during what his protégés now refer to as “the golden age of Crook’s.”

In 1989 Amy traveled to La Varenne Ecole de Cuisine in Paris where she studied classic French technique with Anne Willan. Following graduation, she remained at La Varenne as an apprentice for six months in preparation for her upcoming year as a private chef at the British Embassy. Before leaving France, she landed a much sought-after stage at Duquesnoy,   a Michelen two-star restaurant in Paris, where she worked with many of the most talented young chefs in France. Eventually, fluent in both the French language and their cooking, Amy longed for the flavors of the American South, and flew home to North Carolina while scribbling a business plan for her own catering company.

In 1993, after spending a year behind her kitchen stove converting local residents into fans, Amy founded Sage & Swift Gourmet Catering, and now works alongside her husband and partner, Jeremy Kerman.  As she explains, “The focus has been, and will always be, on the food.” It’s that simple.

Amy is not only recognized for her local, North Carolina cuisine, but also for her updated approach to Southern cooking. She selects farmstead products at their peak and prepares and presents them simply, letting their natural flavors speak for themselves.  Fresh corn salad with basil and tomatoes, blackberry vinaigrette, cornbread croutons, and fried okra with remoulade are trademarks of her cooking, along with extremely personable service. Her longtime goal, since the age of 19, has been to focus on local foods – a goal that becomes easier with each year, as local artisans and farmers strive for perfection and diversity in what they offer.

Amy lives and breathes her commitment to local, seasonal foods and sustainable agriculture. She serves as the President of the Board of SEEDS (South Eastern Efforts Developing Sustainable Spaces), where she develops Community Harvest Programs. In 2004, when Alice Waters visited the Triangle, Amy helped to coordinate a local dinner in her honor, and in 2006 helped to bring renowned writer Michael Pollan to Durham, NC for a special dinner in his honor.