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| November 20, 2008 05:49 AM | |||||
FALL 2007 CONFERENCE |
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Dominique Ansel |
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Growing up north of Paris, Dominique Ansel began his culinary education at 16, apprenticing in a restaurant kitchen before completing his compulsory military service. In Paris, he worked at Pâtisserie Peltier then joined legendary pâtisserie Fauchon where he spent seven years under master pastry chef Christophe Adam. Daniel Boulud invited Dominique to New York, naming him chef pâtissier in the summer of 2006. At Daniel, Dominique's chocolate and fruit dessert menus evolve with the seasons, offering classics with a twist. Characterized by elegant lines and cleanly focused flavors, his desserts draw on an array of international ingredients, and are as stunning to the eye as they are dazzling on the palate. |
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| Dave Arnold | |||||
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Dave Arnold grew up in the |
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Eric Bedoucha |
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As the executive pastry chef and owner of Financier Pâtisserie, Eric Bedoucha creates delicacies that fill a gastronomic void in lower Manhattan. He features a tempting array of beautifully presented French and American pastries and cakes at three Financier locations and his mouthwatering desserts can also be found on the menus of Harry's Steak, Harry's Café, and Bayard's Restaurant where he uses fresh greenmarket ingredients, herbs, and spices to create refreshing, dazzling desserts. Though raised in Paris, Bedoucha's childhood was filled with the couscous, almond pastries, dates, pine nuts, and rose and orange blossom waters of his native Algeria. After a short stint in fashion design school, Bedoucha discovered his passion for pastry at the age of 14 as an apprentice for a Parisian pastry shop and bakery under the tutelage of his first mentor J.P. Weiss. Later, Bedoucha moved on to the celebrated Dalloyau in Paris and then to the United States where he worked with Gray Kunz at the Peninsula Hotel, Maxim's, and La Grenouille before joining the team at Lutèce under Eberhard Mülller, whom he accompanied to Bayard's in November of 2000. In 2002, he partnered with the owners of Bayard's to open Financier Pâtisserie. |
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Ron Ben-Israel |
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Ron Ben-Israel started his confectionery adventure towards the end of a successful fifteen year career as a professional ballet and modern dancer, during which he performed with dance companies on three continents. Studies and work in Canada and France led him to establish his specialty cake business in New York City. Ben-Israel has been featured in many publications, including The New York Times, In Style, Town and Country, and countless bridal magazines. His television credits include "The Oprah Winfrey Show," "Good Morning America," and "Martha Stewart Living." He is also a visiting master pastry chef-instructor at The French Culinary Institute specializing in wedding cake decorating and sugar flowers. |
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Angel Elon |
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Angel Elon, whose name seems to aptly fit his work, began working in kitchens at the age of 12 with his father, an executive chef on Long Island. He continued his culinary education under the International Cake Bakers and Confectionary apprenticeship program in New York City. He has worked around the country as an executive pastry chef for caterers, hotels, restaurants and bakeries. He has also represented major food companies in commercials for, Chi Chi's, El Torrito, Pizza Hut, and Pam Cooking Spray. Angel has received awards from the American Culinary Federation, appeared on the Food Network, and received citations for his participation and contributions to charities through his pastry arts. |
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Cristobal Julio Guardaj |
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As a boy in Guatemala, Cristobal watched his father, a baker, mill wheat using ancient techniques to pulverize grain into flour. But rather than follow in his father's footsteps, Cristobal instead mastered the intricate Mayan craft of fabric weaving called treadle or foot loom, a seemingly unrelated skill that provided invaluable training for his hands that would later aid him in his future calling in America. At the age 18, as a recent immigrant, he found his life coming full circle when he entered the world of baking. As apprentice for Jim Lahey, owner/executive baker of Sullivan St Bakery, Cristobal rose to become Lahey's top baking assistant, despite his young age and limited English. In 2006, with the support of owner Monica Von Thun Calderon, Julio ventured out on his own to become head baker of Grandaisy Bakery. He developed a new line of brioche breads as well as a popular seven-grain bread. In his new role, Cristobal has access to the best modern equipment, but his passion and skill remain deeply rooted in the tradition and simplicity of old-fashioned artisan baking. Recently, Grandaisy earned the number one rating for bread in the 2008 Zagat guide. |
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Wendy Israel |
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Wendy's affinity for flavor and eye-catching desserts have earned her rave reviews—from Frommer's, New York, Vogue, and Chocolatier, among many others—and a loyal following. Since obtaining degrees in commercial baking and pastry arts from Seattle Central Community College and South Seattle Community College, Wendy has worked at a variety of luxury outlets, including the PGA National Resort and Spa (West Palm Beach, FL), Doral Ocean Miami Beach Resort, White Elephant Resort (Nantucket, MA), and, in New York City, Moomba and the W Hotel. She is currently the executive pastry chef of Jumeirah Essex House, the renowned five-star hotel overlooking Central Park. With husband and partner Angel Elon, Wendy also creates wedding and specialty cakes, desserts, and gingerbread houses for Baking by Design. |
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Victoria Love |
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Victoria Love graduated from Skidmore College with a degree in Theatre Directing and Design then worked for five years as a junior talent agent at the Agency for the Performing Arts in Manhattan. A long-standing passion for cooking led her to enroll at The French Culinary Institute. After graduation she interned at Colette's Cakes, assisting Colette Peters in designing and decorating special occasion cakes. She went on to work as head decorator at Pâtisserie Les Friandises where she was later promoted to kitchen manager and assistant general manager. In May 2001, she was asked to be the sous pastry chef at famed restaurateur Michael O'Keeffe's Water Club. Since being promoted to executive pastry chef in 2004, she has been responsible for à la carte dining, Sunday brunch, banquets, and all special occasion cakes. She sits on the Pastry Advisory Board for The French Culinary Institute where she is a guest lecturer and was awarded the Outstanding Alumni Award for Excellence in Pastry Arts in 2006. She has twice been named a finalist in the category of Best Confection for PastryScoop.com's Golden Scoop Awards. |
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Nils Norén |
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Nils Norén is the embodiment of the new international chef: disciplined in the classic sensibilities and driven by immense creativity. Appointed in 2006 after an extensive search, Norén was chosen to lead The FCI's culinary, pastry, bread, and Italian programs after an extensive search. For the previous 10 years, he had been at Aquavit, where Marcus Samuelsson appointed Nils to be executive chef in 2003. There, he strove to solidify the restaurant's place on the culinary map and to show the world what Swedish food and cooking techniques are all about. Prior to joining Aquavit, Chef Nils worked in Stockholm as executive chef at Restaurant Riche, which features a fine dining room, tapas bar, and bistro; and as chef de cuisine at Restaurant KB, one of the country's classic Swedish restaurants in the center of town. He also coordinated cooking classes for Restaurant Akademin. |
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Nancy Olson |
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A native of Napoleon, ND, Nancy Olson was raised on a farm and exposed to the freshest, seasonal ingredients from a young age. Her father's cattle produced beef for restaurants across the country, and some of her earliest childhood memories include baking and making jams and jellies with her grandmother and mother. She attended Concordia College but left, uninspired, after three years and soon found herself working as a cook in the kitchen at the Fargo Country Club. Here she began experimenting with pastry, introducing weekly dessert specials so well received that she was invited to establish her own department. She remained there for several years before attending the Culinary Institute of America, where an internship led to a full-time stint as pastry sous chef at Aureole. That job was followed by a series of positions at some of the city's most illustrious restaurants, including Bouley, Theo, Django, Peacock Alley, and Dona. In August 2006, Nancy accepted a position at Gramercy Tavern, where she builds upon the restaurant's outstanding culinary tradition established over the past 12 years. Her mouth-watering pastries are rooted in her childhood; she uses farm-fresh, seasonal ingredients as the inspiration for her simultaneously soulful, homey, and elegant confections, which pair beautifully with Chef Michael Anthony's farm-inspired savory menu. |
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Jorge Pineda |
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Jorge Pineda joined the Candle team in 1997 from the Connecticut Muffin Company. As pastry chef, he is responsible for the desserts at both Candle 79 and Candle Café, New York City's world-renowned, top Zagat-rated vegetarian restaurants. His signature desserts include Candle Café's Chocolate Mousse Pie, which was lauded by the Los Angeles Times Food section, and Decadent Chocolate Cake, as well as Candle 79's Peanut Butter Bliss and Live Cherry Parfait. Jorge's desserts include wheat-free and gluten-free selections along with delicious housemade sorbets and ice creams. |
Kir Rodriguez |
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A graduate of The French Culinary Institute, Kir Rodriguez was awarded the Grande Diplôme of Culinary Arts in 1998. Before attending The FCI, he was a Franciscan monk for twenty years, during which time he taught Spanish literature and music in high school for ten years, as well as planned and prepared the menu for the clergy of a monastery. He holds a B.A. MCL from UPR and a B.Ph. and a B.S.T. from the Schola Philosophiae Sacraeque Thelogiae. His previous work experience includes acclaimed New York City restaurants Café Boulud, Le Cirque, and Union Square Café. Currently he is the executive pastry chef of Orso and a pastry arts instructor at The FCI, where has taught since 2004. He has participated in numerous baking competitions and exhibitions, including the 18th Annual U.S. Pastry Competition. In his spare time, he sings tenor with the New York Choral Society, which performs regularly at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. |
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Shimme |
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Shimme began his career as a bagel and bread baker in Madison, WI. After stints as a pastry chef, baker, and café manager in Milwaukee, he moved to Boston and began working for Whole Foods Market as a Bakery Team Leader. Four years ago, Shimme moved to Brooklyn where he now oversees the Bakery Program for Whole Foods locations in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. He has been a vegan for over 15 years. |
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Jaime Sudberg |
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Born and raised in New York City, Jaime Sudberg followed in the footsteps of her two great-grandmothers, both noted home bakers. After graduating from SUNY Albany with a B.A. in Liberal Arts, she rediscovered her love of baking and enrolled at the renowned Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, where she earned her Associates Degree in Baking and Pastry. After graduation, Jaime returned to the city and honed her skills in numerous acclaimed restaurants, including Windows on the World, Union Square Café, and Lever House Restaurant where she was pastry sous chef to Deborah Snyder. In March 2005, Jaime joined the opening team of The Stanton Social as pastry chef, where she continues to create seasonal American desserts. |
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Magdalena Wong |
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Born in Hong Kong and raised in the wine country of Northern California, Magdalena Wong experienced firsthand the perfection of natural, seasonal and local ingredients—exposures that guide her passion for pastry to this day. After nine years of a successful career in high-tech product marketing in Silicon Valley and New York, the time has arrived to pursue her true passion. After graduating from The Institute of Culinary Education with a degree in Pastry and Baking Arts, she interned and then worked at the renowned, award-winning Gramercy Tavern in New York City. Magdalena later joined Kyotofu to focus her skills on the art of Japanese dessert, progressing from pastry sous chef to her present role as pastry chef. Determined to follow her passion for the freshest, seasonal ingredients while incorporating Kyoto's refined, artistic approach to cuisine, Kyotofu's new menu reflects these philosophies with simple yet sophisticated soy-based desserts. |
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