Once a star in the Triangle food scene, a promising chef returns to lead Cary hot spot
Timing is everything, and for chef Greg Gettles, it was time to come home.
Once a rising star in the Triangle culinary scene, Gettles had worked in restaurants like Magnolia Grill, Piedmont and Herons at the Umstead Hotel.
Then in 2016 he left the area for acclaimed kitchens in Charleston and then Atlanta, uncertain when or if he’d make his way back to the Triangle. But early in the pandemic, Gettles was led home to pursue something greater than culinary ambition: more time.
His father had been diagnosed with Multiple System Atrophy, a rare degenerative disorder.
“For 20 years I haven’t been here (at home),” Gettles said. “I’ve missed every holiday, every family get-together because I was working all the time. This was important to me.”
Now, five years home, Gettles was recently named executive chef of Cary’s boutique hotel The Mayton and its restaurant Peck & Plume. He steps into the new role as downtown Cary continues to burst at the seams, aiming to make Peck & Plume part of the destination.
“Most of my career is right time, right place,” Gettles said. “We lived in Cary (growing up) and when I came back I had no idea Downtown Cary even existed. Then I saw the sidewalks busy at 7:30 at night. I was stunned, I could not believe the foot traffic. There is an opportunity here to create the hub of the community.”
Reaching back to Magnolia Grill roots
When Gettles was named the new executive chef at The Mayton in Cary, he reached back to his roots for inspiration.
Those roots happen to include the Magnolia Grill, the venerable Durham restaurant that earned a pair of James Beard awards for owners Ben & Karen Barker.
“The first thing I did, I pulled my Magnolia Grill cookbook off the shelf,” Gettles said. “That’s the outline. I’ll always return to that book in thinking of North Carolina, that’s what it means to me.”
For his interview at Magnolia Grill nearly two decades ago, Gettles was asked to make lunch.
“You had to do a cook test, which is unheard of today,” Gettles said. “They mostly wanted to see where you are with your seasoning.”
The restaurant has been a family tree for some of the Triangle’s most notable chefs. Just beginning his career at the time, Gettles hoped to be one of them. He made arctic char, greens and potatoes, managing to land the seasoning and the job.
“It was a really special place,” Gettles said. “At the time you needed to have (Magnolia Grill) on your resume and you needed to stay at least a year. I had experience cooking relatively seasonally, but there we would change the menu every single day.”
He stayed at Magnolia Grill for a little less than two years before being hired at Herons, then and now one of the most acclaimed fine dining restaurants in the South.
For Gettles, who chose to work in a Whole Foods prep kitchen instead of going to college, it unlocked a new level of ambition.
“I always felt like I had something to prove,” Gettles said. “Cooking was the only thing that ever truly made sense. I was always the youngest in the kitchen. But I realized, ‘You’re the youngest, you don’t know anything. Keep your eyes open and pay attention and get it right.’”
At Herons, Gettles worked under chefs Scott Crawford and then Steven Devereaux Greene and went to California to stage at the French Laundry with Thomas Keller.
“At Herons, there’s so much information and training available to you,” Gettles said. “It’s like, I want to make you a carrot in a way you’ve never thought possible or I will change your mind about collard greens. It was a grind but it was unbelievable.”
The return to Cary
When Gettles returned home to the Triangle in the pandemic, he once again worked at some of the area’s best restaurants over the last four years, including Rose’s in Durham, Jolie in Raleigh and a second stint at Herons, where he helped develop the fermentation program.
In the meantime, he spent time with his family. He watched and supported his father, a former Olympic-level weightlifter, as he exercised, boxed and continued to try and stay active.
“It’s hard to see someone deteriorating like that, but he’s still my dad, he’s still cracking jokes,” Gettles said. “We’ve gotten to have a lot of important conversations, I’ve been able to get to learn more about him. I was so focused on my career for so long. Focusing on something else has been nice.”
Earlier this year, Gettles said he felt the space and pull to step back into a chef role.
“I just felt like I was ready for that next big job,” he said.
Next level: Peck & Plume’s menu
At Peck & Plume, he plans to restore and reinterpret what it means to be a Southern restaurant.
“The Southern hospitality is already built in,” Gettles said. “It’s already a hub, I just want to take it to the next level.”
Favorites remain, like the top seller, a honey-drizzled fried chicken sandwich. But new highlights include a grits souffle, which Gettles said is essentially a spoonbread with smoked mushrooms and garlic.
Gettles favorite dish is one he threw together one night when they needed another appetizer, a plate of fried yuca with green tahini and pomegranate molasses.
“I smile whenever I hear we need to 86 it,” Gettles said.
In the coming months look for an even expanded menu.
“I’m always looking for a good challenge,” he said. “I have a vision for what The Mayton will become. I could see it the second I walked around — there’s always something going on.”
This story was originally published July 14, 2025 at 7:30 AM with the headline "Once a star in the Triangle food scene, a promising chef returns to lead Cary hot spot."
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to reflect The Mayton’s correct name.
