Lasheeda Perry: A Conversation with the Queen of Flavor
Release Date: 11/02/2022
Francois Behuet: Executive Pastry Chef with a Passion for Chocolate
Pastry Arts Podcast
Francois Behuet is the Executive Pastry Chef of the Ritz-Carlton, Los Angeles. Since 2022, Behuet has overseen pastry food & beverage outlets at both The Ritz-Carlton, Los Angeles and JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. LIVE, which includes the signature Californian trattoria Savoca, Glance Lobby Bar, Illy Caffé, The Ritz-Carlton Club Lounge, in-room dining and Sendero, including three signature dining experiences (Corteza, Leña and The Agave Library). With extensive luxury hospitality experience and a deep understanding of the industry landscape, Behuet brings 20 years of pastry experience,...
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Stéphane Chéramy: Inspiring Excellence in Pastry
Pastry Arts Podcast
Chef Stéphane Chéramy is currently the Executive Pastry Chef at The Ritz-Carlton & JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes, a role he has held since 2006. In this capacity, Chef Chéramy has led the pastry team at this AAA 5-Diamond, Michelin-award-winning resort, managing various aspects of the pastry and bakery operations. Chef Chéramy is also the President of Club Pastry World Cup Team USA, a member of the Académie Culinaire de France and the James Beard Foundation. From 2006 to 2012, Chef Chéramy was the Chairman of the Ritz-Carlton Pastry Advisory Board - Global. Prior to his...
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Andy Chlebana C.M.P.C., C.C.A.: Teacher, Coach, TV Star
Pastry Arts Podcast
Upon completing an AAS in Culinary Arts from Joliet Junior College in Joliet, Illinois, Andy Chlebana attended the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park to study baking and pastry. He began his career working for the Four Seasons Chicago, focusing on fine-dining desserts. Chef Chlebana’s career has included positions at The Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island Grill Room, opening team of the Ritz-Carlton Washington D.C., and Pastry Chef/Corporate Account Manager at Albert Uster Imports, Inc. Chlebana has spent the past 18 years teaching baking and pastry at Joliet Junior College in Joliet,...
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Susan Bae: Bright Star of the D.C. Pastry Scene and James Beard Award Nominee
Pastry Arts Podcast
Susan Bae is the Executive Pastry Chef and founding member of Moon Rabbit restaurant in Washington, D.C. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Bae is a 2024 James Beard Foundation Semifinalist for Outstanding Pastry Chef. Before coming to Moon Rabbit, Bae worked as Pastry Chef at the Fairmont Hotel in Austin, Texas, and the Michelin-starred Kali in Los Angeles, among other restaurants. Chef Bae draws inspiration from nature, and uses it as a reference point in her desserts. She adores herbs, often employing them to switch up standard pastry flavors. Once an aspiring school teacher, Chef Bae likes to...
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Amy Guittard: Unwrapping the Secrets of America’s Premier Chocolate Company
Pastry Arts Podcast
Amy Guittard, Chief Marketing Officer at Guittard Chocolate Company, is the great-great-granddaughter of Guittard's founder. As the fifth-generation of the family business her great-great-grandfather started in 1868, Amy has an innate passion for cocoa and chocolate. In addition to leading Guittard's marketing department and spearheading the development of the brand, Amy’s involvement at Guittard also includes sourcing and sustainability, serving on several committees for the World Cocoa Foundation, and traveling to origin to meet with farmers, buyers, and traders. She continues Guittard’s...
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Martin Sorge: Turning a Baking Obsession into a First-Place Win on The Great American Baking Show
Pastry Arts Podcast
Martin Sorge is a baker, recipe developer, and food writer based in Chicago, IL. A tried-and-true Midwestern native from Fort Wayne, IN, Martin’s passion for baking dates back to his early childhood when he accidentally set a microwave on fire while attempting to make a “biscuit” out of a few simple ingredients. Despite that setback, Martin forged ahead with his love of food to become a self-trained home baker, educating himself on the variety of baking techniques through cookbooks, blogs, friends, learning from mistakes, and lots of eating. He started by baking simple breads and cookies...
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Mario Bacherini: Bringing Decades of Pastry and Chocolate Expertise to L’École Valrhona on the West Coast
Pastry Arts Podcast
Based in Los Angeles, California, Chef Mario Bacherini is the West Coast Pastry Chef of L’École Valrhona, where is he is in charge of conducting classes, demonstrations and workshops for professionals, providing one-on-one culinary consultations and bringing Valrhona’s expert touch to the West Coast. After graduating from culinary school in Florence, Italy, Chef Bacherini went on to do his apprenticeship as a chocolatier. He began working in Michelin-starred restaurants across Italy and France until he decided to settle in Perpignan, France, where he trained under Olivier...
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Didier Saba: Turning a Passion for Macarons into a Thriving Business
Pastry Arts Podcast
Born and raised in the south of France, Didier Saba started his career as an accountant, but his love for creating French pastries eventually led to training at the famous pastry school Lenôtre. With the help of a renowned pastry chef from Lenôtre, he relocated to the United States and opened his first Le Macaron French Pastries Cafe in 2009. Didier and his family founded Le Macaron with the mission of bringing authentic macarons to the States. Educating and delighting customers about how macarons are truly “the gem of pastries” in France, the company has grown over the years through...
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Gonzo Jimenez: Perfecting the Art of All-or-Nothing in Chocolate and in Life
Pastry Arts Podcast
Chef Gonzo Jimenez was born in Northern Argentina and raised in a Spanish household surrounded by good food and long family meals. At the age of 17, he started working in restaurants and fell in love with the culinary world. He enrolled in pastry and culinary school in Buenos Aires. After completing his studies, he traveled around the country working for five-star hotels and celebrity chefs. From 2009 to 2013, Chef Gonzo worked for large hotels in the United States, including the St. Julien in Boulder, CO, and The Hyatt Corporation in New Orleans and New York. Most notable amongst his various...
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Philip Khoury: Raising the Bar on Plant-Based Desserts
Pastry Arts Podcast
Philip Khoury is the award-winning Head Pastry Chef at Harrods in London and the author of the newly released book A New Way to Bake: Re-imagined Recipes for Plant-Based Cakes, Bakes and Desserts (Hardie Grant, 2023). Chef Khoury started his career at Australia’s most awarded restaurant, Quay in Sidney, before becoming Adriano Zumbo’s head of R&D, launching hundreds of patisserie lines in his native Australia. After a number of years spent realizing the food industry’s unsustainable reliance on animal exploitation, he decided to begin tackling an area he had previously thought...
info_outlineLasheeda Perry is the pastry chef and owner of Queen of Flavor, a company that specializes in everything from revamping your dessert menu to helping you design and execute your dream dessert menu.
Lasheeda has always had a passion for culinary arts, and luckily for the sweet-tooth everywhere, this love has materialized into a successful and rewarding career. Prior to creating Queen of Flavor, she received her culinary education from Johnson & Wales University in Providence, RI. Immediately after graduation, Lasheeda secured an entry level pastry cook position at Four Seasons Resort Dallas. Within five years of beginning her career, Lasheeda would hold the title of Executive Pastry Chef at Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts and Bon Appetit Management Company LinkedIn.
Throughout her culinary journey, Lasheeda has received numerous awards and accolades. In 2012, she won season two of Food Network Sweet Genius after proving her skills by overcoming tight time constraints, masterfully incorporating secret ingredients and accommodating larger-than-life requests. That same year, several of Lasheeda’s desserts landed on Philadelphia food critic Craig LaBan's coveted Four-Bell Finestlist. In 2018, she was a finalist on Food Network Best Baker in America, Season 2 where she was named the “Queen of Flavor”. Lasheeda is never the one to pass up a cool opportunity. Last November, she was presented with the chance to take on an iron chef, on Food Network’s Beat Bobby Flay, and that she did! Queen of Flavor’s pastry services include, menu development, virtual baking classes, R&D development, interim pastry services, pop-ups, and more.
In this episode we discuss:
- How a high school teacher jump-started Lasheeda’s path to a culinary career
- Her first taste of success: winning a culinary competition and a trip to China
- How C-CAP helped her land a full-tuition scholarship to Johnson & Wales
- Lasheeda’s first job in the pastry kitchen at the Four Season Hotel in Dallas, TX
- Her first Executive Pastry Chef position at Bon Appetit Management Company at LinkedIN
- Landing the position as Executive Pastry Chef at the Four Season Atlanta
- How she got her first gig on the FoodNetwork and how it felt to beat Bobby Flay
- Lasheeda’s best advice for those entering the industry
- And much more!
- And much more!
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