Georgia Macon
Twelve | Portland, ME
SEPTEMBER 2023
As a kid, Georgia Macon had a massive sweet tooth, and was always trailing her beloved grandmother in the kitchen while she whipped up baked goods and desserts for the whole family. Macon’s neighbors knew how much she loved to bake, so they invited her to help out at their farm-to-table restaurant when she was in middle school. Executive Chef Cary McDowell took Macon under his wing, further solidifying her love of cooking. After graduating high school, she packed her bags and moved to France to attend Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. Upon completing her studies, she returned home to St. Louis to attend college, but after a few months, she knew she wanted to pursue a culinary career instead. She worked in restaurants around the city as a pastry assistant and garde manger while teaching herself to make everything out of Tartine’s cookbook. Determined to work at the renowned bakery, Macon uprooted and moved to San Francisco to ask for a job in person; and they invited her to join their team.
Macon learned the fundamentals of baking at Tartine, going on to help open the first Tartine Manufactory. After a few years, she began to feel burnt out from the high-volume, high-stress job, so she moved cross-country to Martha’s Vineyard to run a small bakery and to help friend Nina Levin open her sourdough pizza cart, Stoney Hill Pizza. Looking for a more steady position, Macon eventually settled in Portland, Maine and joined the team at Twelve as pastry chef. There, she highlights her pastry experiences and rustic-yet-refined style of baking, honing in on naturally leavened bread and hand-laminated viennoiserie, such as her kamut flour milk bread with smoked pecan butter and candied pecans.
2023 StarChefs Coastal New England Rising Stars Award Winner
