Natasha Gaskill of The Grey and The Grey Market
Back when our kids were toddlers at Maggie’s Morning School, Natasha Gaskill was always the mom with the best food.
Flash-pickled veggies for a weekday potluck. Homemade soup on Halloween to counteract the kids’ candy high. Gorgeous tiered cakes for every birthday. When it was her turn to bring classroom snacks? Fresh baked sticky bars gobbled up before anyone got wind that they were actually healthy.
Rather than intimidate all us other moms, this woman of superior chopping skills and supreme wit only made us want to learn her ways. Hanging out in her kitchen taught me the proper way to prepare shad (researched to a “t” from Edna Lewis’ The Taste of Country Cooking) and the simple joy of dipping fresh radishes in salt and butter (she counts Alice Waters and the Chez Panisse Menu Cookbook as lifelong inspiration.) Always an advocate of local food, the Bellingham, Washington native’s affinity for fresh ingredients extended out of the kitchen, with a prolific backyard garden, weekly trips to the Forsyth Farmers Market and urban foraging expeditions to relieve neighborhood trees of citrus, figs and other found fruits for preserves.
Natasha’s creative confections caught the attention of Savannah’s busiest hostesses and party planners, and her meringue tarts and petit fours began appearing on silver trays in mansions during her children’s elementary school years. Her side hustle became a bona fide career after a stint at Lulu’s Chocolate Bar and led her to create her own A Squad Bake Shop, operated out of her backyard shed. Her stunning wedding cakes and delectable donuts earned their own cult following, and then local fine dining establishments came a’calling. Chef Sean Brock’s team tagged her as top local talent when it came time to open Husk Savannah, and these days the envy of the preschool Mom Squad is at the helm of dessert and pastry at The Grey and The Grey Market, which — with recent international exposure — are now known by some of the finest palates in the world.
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