No queens in Aiken, South Carolina

I first heard about Teddy Milner a dozen years ago when I was looking for someone to cater a 100-person buffet brunch in Aiken, South Carolina. “She is the queen of caterers,” a food-savvy friend advised.

Milner was hired. The meal she created was not queenly. It was demure: nothing exotic or cutting-edge, no surprises, no dazzling dishes to photograph in hopes of social-media huzzahs. As guests dipped into silver-plated serving trays of chicken tetrazzini and cottage pie, they reveled in the pleasure of familiarity. When one woman first approached the buffet and recognized the food arrayed, she whispered to a friend, “Ahh, it’s Teddy.”