Candy is probably the primary phrase that involves thoughts in the case of desserts, nevertheless it’s definitely not the one one. Tart, comforting, natural, and satisfying all have their roles to play, too.
Candidates for the CultureMap Tastemaker Awards 2023 The pastry chef of the 12 months understands that sweetness have to be balanced. They know {that a} sprinkle of salt makes any chocolate dessert extra chocolaty, or that toasted strawberries improve the sweetness. With their various abilities, they make savory meals that go away individuals yearning for extra and sweets which might be, if we’re being sincere, higher than something Grandma ever made.
This 12 months’s nominees make cookies, desserts, breads, kolaches, donuts, pop tarts, ice cream and extra. Their inspiration comes from each childhood favorites and culinary traditions from all over the world. Even individuals who say they do not like dessert will seemingly discover one thing to devour from this illustrious group.
Who will win? Discover out on April 13 on the Tastemaker Awards ceremony. Seize bites from this 12 months’s nominees, sip cocktails from our sponsors, and watch as we unveil the winners. Purchase your tickets now.
Alyssa Dole – LuLoo Day and Evening
After an extended profession that has seen her work all over the place from Farming to Pinkertons Barbecue, Dole has discovered a house on this bakery and cafe in Backyard Oaks. Working in partnership with Blood Bros. BBQ, LuLoos serves Doles bread sandwiches and a spread of candy and savory pastries, together with Aussie-inspired sausage rolls and barbecue kolaches. Upstairs, Dole runs LuLu Belles Bakeshop, a bulk bakery that provides bread to Blood Bros. and a variety of different Houston eating places.
Kelly Helgesen – Nancy’s Hustle
After a profitable profession in Chicago that included a Zagat 30 Below 30 award for her work on the Lula Cafe, Helgesen moved to Houston to reunite her skilled relationship with Nancy’s govt chef/co-owner Jason Vaughan (each they’re alumni of the legendary seafood restaurant L20). At Nancys, it maintains the standard of menu staples just like the savory Parmesan cheesecake (and people English muffin burger sandwiches Justin Verlander is so keen on) whereas additionally including seasonal specials like a not too long ago launched buttermilk sorbet with roasted strawberries and sticks of sesame. Properly, fingers crossed that you simply discover a solution to share her bagel-making abilities with Houstonians on a extra common foundation sooner or later.
Kripa Shenoy – EaDough Confectionery and Provisions
This chef involves Houston through New York Metropolis, the place she labored at Marea, which not too long ago earned a Michelin star and received the 2010 James Beard Award for Finest New Restaurant in America. At EaDough, a take-out-only stand alongside the Columbia Faucet Rail hike and bike path, Shenoy discovers a breakfast-focused checklist of candy and savory pastries that features kolaches, muffins, cookies, scones, and croissants. Later this 12 months, Houstonians will expertise extra of her abilities when she opens Auden, a globally impressed and vegetarian restaurant, along with her husband, chef Kirthan Shenoy.
Lucianna Emiliani – Louie’s Italian American
After beginning her profession in Houston, Emiliani moved to California, the place she labored in Los Angeles for the acclaimed Tartine Bakery. She got here house to assist her brother, chef Angelo Emiliani, open Cafe Louie (named after her), the place she earned raves for her croissants, morning rolls and different viennoiseries. As Cafe Louie advanced into Louie’s Italian American, she developed a few basic desserts for the menu, together with a tiramisu that is among the many finest in Houston. Fortunately, her croissants are nonetheless accessible at Saturday morning pop-ups and low retailers in Houston.
Marie Riddle – Bludorn/Navy Blue
Like lots of the individuals behind Bludorn and Navy Blue, Riddle involves Houston through New York, the place he labored for legendary French chef Daniel Boulud and Milk Bar founder Christina Tosi. At Bludorn, Riddle and his staff oversee a rotating roster of desserts that embrace Baked Alaska’s signature eating places. For Navy Blue, the flavors are a bit lighter, with standouts together with a Key Lime Pie tart and the carrot cake shell served on the Tastemaker Awards ceremony.
Rebecca Masson – Fluff Bake Bar
It is nearly exhausting to consider that Fluff began promoting pastries at Revival Market 12 years in the past. Now firmly established in his location close to the Heights, Masson has earned a formidable popularity and a earlier Tastemaker Awards win, for signatures like Veruca Quiche, Sofa Potato Cookie and Star Crossed Lover (Rice Krispie drizzled with fudge and coated in chocolate). Followers know to line up early on Saturday mornings, as weekly specials like croissants, grilled kolaches and quiches promote out shortly.
Ruchit Harneja – Musaafer
Having discovered to prepare dinner from his mom and grandmother, this pastry chef has traveled the world, gaining expertise in India and Europe earlier than becoming a member of the opening staff of fantastic Indian restaurant Gallerias. In press supplies, the chef describes his type as incorporating sudden components comparable to contemporary inexperienced chillies, garlic, ginger, fish and meat. These abilities have served him nicely within the present meals internet season Spring Baking Championship: Easterthe place a hickory-smoked honey cake received a problem and a brief spot on the Musaafers menu.
Shawn Gawle – Goodnight Hospitality
A part of Goodnights’ dedication to offering world-class eating experiences included recruiting Gawle, a veteran of Michelin-starred eating places in Chicago and the Bay Space, to return to Houston. Below her path, the corporate’s pastry program features a complicated array of candy and savory objects that ranges from Montrose Cheese & Wine’s Cookies and Canal to Rosie Cannonball staples comparable to Recco flatbread and Basque cheesecake to elegant desserts at dish of March and the tiny mignardise. Balanced flavors, seasonal components and refined strategies are the ties that unite all his efforts.
Stefani Velasquez – Papalo Mercado/Ema
Whether or not at Finn Corridor’s downtown sales space that he runs along with his enterprise accomplice, chef Nicolas Vera, or City Harvest’s weekly farmers’ market sales space, diners depend on Velasquez’s nostalgic desserts impressed by Mexican pan dulce and different traditions. A veteran of Hugo Ortegas H-City Restaurant Group, Velasquez’s produce covers a variety, together with conchas, pop tarts, his signature horchata-stuffed Berlinsa, and specialties utilizing Vera’s nixtamalized masa. The chef provides that she makes use of eggs from her father’s farm and as many seasonal produce as she will be able to.
Vanarin Kuch – Espresso store
The previous 12 months has been a busy time for the chef-owner of this EaDo bakery and cafe devoted to serving up flavors impressed by Houston’s various immigrant communities. By closing Koffeteria’s wholesale operations, Kuch was in a position to broaden its manufacturing with extra candy and savory choices starting from a Chinese language sausage taco and breakfast sandwiches on selfmade flatbreads to matcha latte croissants and bread of Cambodian elote corn. Plus, the occasional Cambodian dinner and omakase dessert service permits Kuch to exhibit a various set of abilities that went far past his on a regular basis (and really scrumptious) creations.