Camari Mick is the Executive Pastry Chef at The Musket Room, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Manhattan’s Nolita neighborhood, and Executive Pastry Chef/Partner at the newly opened Raf’s, a French & Italian bakery, restaurant and all-day café from the same owner.

In 2022, she became a James Beard Award semi-finalist for Outstanding Pastry Chef, the same year that The Musket Room landed a glowing New York Times review from Pete Wells, and was named one of best restaurants in America by the same paper. In 2023, she received her second consecutive James Beard Award semi-finalist nod for Outstanding Pastry Chef, and soon after was honored as one of Dine Diaspora’s distinguished Black Women in Food honorees in the ‘Culinarian’ category. The same year, Raf’s received a 2-star New York Times review, cementing Mick & team’s reputation as culinary hitmakers.

A dynamic rising star pastry talent and skilled baker, Mick joined the team in November of 2020, quickly melding her refined-yet-playful style with the restaurant’s reliably indulgent menus. In the thick of the pandemic she spearheaded the launch of “MR All-Day,” The Musket Room’s all-day cafe that operated out of a vintage 1962 Harvester truck parked out front. Her coveted sweets (including a miso toffee chocolate chip cookie and guava cream cheese donut) and freshly-baked breads drew lines down the block and helped keep the restaurant afloat.

A community-minded leader, Mick regularly organizes groups of young chefs for collaborative projects. For Black History Month in 2022, she sold provision boxes featuring goods from top black chefs in NYC, garnering substantial media coverage for all involved and selling out numerous weekends.

As her pastry team grows, she leads with the compassion, patience and openness that she felt was missing in her previous fine dining experience. She aims to cultivate a learning environment and serve as an example for other black chefs who want to succeed in the industry.

Prior to The Musket Room, Mick honed her pastry experience in some of NYC’s finest kitchens including Thomas Keller’s TAK Room, Le Bernardin and Daniel Boulud’s db Bistro Moderne, including a two-month stage at Eleven Madison Park.

By her own account, she got into pastry out of necessity. Her dad is Jamaican and her Mom is from Brooklyn, and while they’re both great cooks, their talents did not include baking. Since she always wanted something sweet after dinner growing up, she begged her mom to start baking with her and became hooked. She studied Pastry Arts at college in Philadelphia and has continued to develop her passion into a thriving career.

Camari has been featured on video by Bloomingdales, Pineapple Collaborative and NBC’s New York Live.