As you can imagine, it then became the family restaurant and we all worked there on the weekends. My father insisted that I learn from the bottom up every position and was treated like one of the employees. With that said, I started as a busser, then hostess, waitress, banquet server, banquet captain, assisted in the kitchen and eventually, at the age of 17, closing manager.
We eventually bought another restaurant on the Tony Lema Golf Course in San Leandro and I decided to take a 3 year break from the family restaurant business—but, within 3 years, I was back assistant managing the operation; it was in my DNA.
Eventually, my parents decided to move out of the area and I took over running the restaurant operation on my own when I was 28 years old.
In that first year, I was able to increase revenue 25% and proceeded to raise those numbers over the next 2 years. Eventually, the course was sold to American Golf Corporation, and they bought the restaurant as well. I was offered a job to stay on as Director of Food and Beverage and took it. I stayed for an additional two years until I got married and moved to Sonoma County.
After having my daughter, we bought a delicatessen, and our operation grew 400% within the first two years. We sold the deli, but I held on to the catering side of the business, which is what I did for 16 years before becoming the Resident Chef at Sur La Table in Santa Rosa.
The world of fine dining, culinary arts, baking and pastry making, and food service is dominated by men. What has been your experience as a woman working in such a male-dominated industry? How do you assert yourself as a leader, in spite of preexisting biases or prejudices?
Being a woman in a predominately male business was not always easy. In the early years, being in the kitchen with some chefs, you were in the way—you were not taken seriously because you were supposed to be the one serving the guests and looking cute.
We had an Assistant Chef that took me under his wing and taught me some of the easier items on the menu. The first thing I learned how to make was chocolate mousse because the first thing I would do when I got to the restaurant everyday was grab a spoon, go into the walk-in refrigerator and serve myself a cup of chocolate mousse out of the huge vat. He would always tell me to get out of there until, one day he said, “If you’re going to eat it, you’re going to learn how to make it!”
And the rest is history.
Follow Up: What advice do you have for other female chefs who are looking to break into the industry?
My advice for all of my chefs that tell me they want to learn not just how to cook and teach, but the industry itself is that you have to do the work!
Learn every position within the establishment. Not one person is more important than another and not one job is more important than the other. The true road to success that I learned over the many years I have been doing this is TEAMWORK. It is truly that simple.
What is your favorite part of being a Resident Chef for Sur La Table?
My favorite part of being a Resident Chef for Sur La Table is watching the excitement in people’s eyes when they learn how to make their favorite dish, how to dice an onion like a chef, or see their croissants come out of the oven and look like they were professionally made.
And I love getting to share my knowledge with my students.
What is your favorite thing to cook?
That’s a tough question! It’s not one thing in particular, it’s a variety of dishes like paella, dim sum, croissants…
What is your favorite Sur La Table tool or small appliance?
My favorite Sur La Table tools are the Ratchet Mills, and my favorite small appliance is the Breville Blender—it is so quiet.
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