Stacey Eames, an Albany native who is making her mark in Atlanta’s culinary world, will return to her hometown on April 13 for an exciting event. She will be the featured chef in Spring Fête, the latest entry in the Albany Museum of Art’s Fine Art of Culinary Dining Series.
 
The dinner will be held at the residence of Craig and Jessica Castle in the Woodlands Neighborhood developed by Spencer Walden. The elegant residence, designed by architect Richard Richards, is noted for its spectacular camellias, which Walden cultivated from the original plants he had shipped from Mississippi.
 
“Our dinner will be served on the beautiful grounds of a place that’s an Albany landmark, the residence of Craig and Jessica Castle,” Kirk Rouse, chair of the AMA’s Supper Series Committee, said. “This five-acre space is an oasis of elegance and history.
 
“To top it off, we have Albany’s own Stacey Eames, who’s made an indelible impression on the Atlanta cuisine scene with Highland Bakery & Kitchen. I think it’s wonderful that she now has multiple locations in Atlanta and she’s expanding.”
 
The dinner is set for 6 pm on Saturday, April 13. Seating is limited, but there are still a handful of tickets available, Rouse noted.
 
Eames said she’s “excited to come back to my roots” for the dinner, which her brother, Glenn Eames of Albany, will prepare with her.
 
 “Albany’s definitely a community that I still feel entrenched in,” she said. “My family has had a strong presence in Albany since before I was born. The strong foundation that Albany provided my parents was enriching for my life. I still have great friends from Albany, people I graduated high school with.”
 
Glenn Eames is a former college baseball coach who is currently operating his Smoke & Fire food truck, which is seen at numerous Albany area events. Their father, Paul Eames, is a former baseball coach after whom Albany’s baseball complex off Blaylock Street is named. The Eames family also operated a restaurant that was popular in Albany, the Hit & Run. Visiting Paul Eames’ Christmas tree lot on Dawson Road near Slappey Boulevard was an annual holiday tradition for many.
 
“Her family’s roots run deep in Albany,” Rouse said. “I’m sure many people here remember buying Christmas trees from her dad and eating at their family restaurant.”
 
Stacey Eames said she was honored to be a chef in the Albany Museum of Art fundraiser series, which helps the AMA fund programming and provide the public with free admission to its exhibitions. She said a strong arts presence is a critical component of a healthy community.
 
“First of all,” Eames said, “I’m happy to be participating in anything that gets more people in the museum’s doors, especially the underserved. The cultural aspects of what a city has to offer can be excluding in a way.
 
“I’ve been involved in Big Brother/Big Sister programs, and I have served on the metro Atlanta Boys & Girls Clubs board. I have seen firsthand what exposure to the cultural aspects of the community can do.”
 
Albany is fortunate to have a thriving arts community, she said.
 
“The arts are where a lot of communities are deficient,” Eames said. “I have to have that (the arts) where I live. Art sets apart and makes a community unique. It’s a quality of life issue. That’s what’s going to bring industry and business to Albany.
 
“The arts should be a primary focus for us. In looking at Albany, we know there’s a lot of room to grow. The arts, especially at places like Albany, are integral to rebuilding a city and to keeping a community going. Any way the community can back the Albany Museum of Art and its mission, I’m all for that.”
 
Eames also said there is synergy between visual art and the culinary arts, an area in which she has excelled. Since locating in the original Highland Bakery building, a structure with historical significance in Atlanta, Eames has expanded to 13 Atlanta area locations.
 
“The arts and the culinary arts are closely tied together,” she said. “I’m excited by what we’re going to bring to this dinner. It’s going to show how that collaborative can be closely tied.”
 
The location is one of the most scenic in Albany. Community Easter egg hunts were once held on the property. After Mrs. Walden passed away in 2001, the house was sold.
 
In 2007, Emily Jean McAfee and Gayle Walden Chapman, who grew up in the house, purchased the home in 2011 and renovated it, completing the work in 2013.  The Castles purchased house the next year, and Craig Castle has endeavored to nurture the beautiful gardens as Walden did
 
Eames said she thinks guests at the dinner, which will be held on the grounds, will enjoy the menu, which incorporates both her and Glenn’s styles.
 
“I didn’t want to reinvent the wheel,” she said. “I also love the crossover where we’re tying in things Smoke & Fire does and recreating our dishes. We’re trying to get back to our roots. I feel the menu is very Southern. I’m always extremely proud to say I’m not just from the South, but from Albany in particular.”
 
Plans are to begin the evening with mingling bites of spinach artichoke crostini. The appetizer will be cilantro corn cakes with black beans, fried egg, salsa, Vermont white cheddar and sour cream, topped with Smoke & Fire pulled pork.
 
The soup will be white bean chicken chili served with a sharp cheese. The Super Crunch Salad will include Tahini Goddess Dressing and will be served with pimento cheese or goat cheese fritters.
 
Entrees will be shrimp and grits topped with a jalapeno cheese sauce and served with jalapeno focaccia, and Arnold Palmer Chicken with roasted turnip roots and braised leaves.
 
Eames is keeping dessert a surprise for now.
 
Looking back at her career, Eames says she is surprised to have ended up in the restaurant business. “My parents owned a restaurant in Albany about the time I was born,” she said. “I grew up in it. I said I never want to be in the food business.”
 
Destiny, however, can often run counter to intentions. Eames noted how enterprising her parents were, from running a restaurant to handing concessions at ball parks to operating that signature Christmas tree lot.
 
“Looking at my mom and dad, they both had entrepreneurial spirit,” she said.
 
It’s something that both she and Glenn inherited.
 
“Glenn is one of those people who are super talented,” she said. “He’ll just set his mind to making, say, great pizza or great barbecue, and he’ll do it. He has always been more talented in doing anything he’s set his mind to than I will ever be. I’m excited to team up with him.”
 
Stacey Eames began making her mark on Atlanta with a kiosk coffee shop at Piedmont Hospital. That expanded to seven or eight kiosks around the city, which led her to look for a brick-and-mortar opportunity. There was catering and an ice cream shop along the way before she found the Highland Bakery building.
 
The Highland Bakery was a pre-World War II business that folded sometime after the war because the owners did not want to become wholesale bread suppliers to the many groceries that began to spring up. The building fell into disrepair. It was restored and the space leased to a father-and-son bakery that floundered. Eames bought the business and turned it into a restaurant, adding new features such as pastries.
 
“All the things I’d done in the past, I started to add,” she said.
 
The formula has worked. She added a location in Midtown and her business, renamed Highland Bakery & Kitchen to reflect its more diverse menu, grew to the point of franchising in 2015. Of the 13 locations that now comprise Highland Bakery & Kitchen, five are franchise businesses and eight are corporately owned, she said.