James Beard Award season is in full swing and the countdown to the big day has begun! Avero works with over 100 James Beard Award nominees and over 25 James Beard Award winners (not including 2014) in every category from Outstanding Restauranteur to Best Bar Program, and the 2014 nominees are no exception. To showcase these remarkable individuals, Avero is interviewing nominees across the country to learn how they started their culinary careers, what trends they’re most excited about, their favorite dishes to create and consume, and much more.
Oustanding Pastry Chef Nominee: Dana Cree, Blackbird (Chicago)
Avero: How did your career in restaurants/F&B begin?
Dana: My first job was at an old-fashioned drive-in burger stand called Rays Drive-In. It’s an amazing place where the fries are hand cut, the fish is battered fresh every day, the burgers are classic, and the milk shakes come in, like, 20 flavors. I wouldn’t call that the start to cooking as a career, but it was something I thoroughly enjoyed doing, and gave me a taste for food service. I loved the atmosphere, and enjoyed going to work every day. I also worked the counter at an artisan bakery at that time, which I believed was going to be my career path. I loved desserts, but at the time couldn’t sit still, and wasnt a fit for a bakery environment. After attending culinary school I realized that in high-end restaurants I could combine the satisfaction I got from the drive-in with my love for baking and pastry.
Avero: What was the biggest turning point in your career?
Dana: I was taken to dinner at a restaurant called Lampreia in Seattle. The food transcended anything I’d every experienced, and I knew sitting at that table that I wanted to cook food like that. I remember every dish I had to this day, something no meal has accomplished since. I pushed my foot in the door there, and kept coming back before the chef hired me. My career has followed that trajectory ever since, and has had many turns in the road. That meal, however, pushed me in the direction I’ve followed ever since, working so my food resonates that deeply with our guests in every various restaurant or shop I work for.
Avero: Who do you admire most?
Dana: I have worked for a list of admirable chefs, and picking one name out of the batch seems unjust. But the person who I admire and aspire to be is Sherry Yard. I had worked for so many amazing chefs, but when I met her and saw her tenacity, leadership style, culinary phillosophy, gusto, and compassion, I knew she had what I wanted. She wasn’t just someone I admire, she’s someone I strive to emulate.
Avero: What’s your favorite dish?
Dana: This is an impossible question to answer. I’ve had so many amazing dishes over the course of my life. Even pre-culinary career, I just loved eating so much, that I had a million favorite things.
Avero: What trend in dining are you most/least excited about?
Dana: To be honest I don’t pay that much attention to trends. I tend to be hyper-focused on whatever is exciting me for the week, and don’t notice what is going on around me. Today I’m thinking about Mexican Concha and what it would take to make them.
Avero: What solutions help you run/improve your business day to day?
Dana: I adore organization and systems, which is probably why pastry appeals to me. I’ve found a lot of empowering information in the computer programs available to chefs, like Avero and Chef Tech. A chef can get lost in the creative process, and the constant and urgent minute-to-minute needs of a kitchen, and utilizing the information provided by these programs can help us make better decisions for our teams and our bottom line.
Avero: What is your biggest business challenge?
Dana: My biggest challenge is managing food cost. As a restaurant that highlights high-end products in our cuisine, we have to keep a very close eye on what the cost of each dish is, and how it sells in the dining room. Monitoring this weekly is time consuming, but allows us to work within the correct percentages to ensure our business is profitable.
Avero: What’s the one piece of advice that you’d give to an aspiring chef/restauranteur?
Dana: My biggest piece of advice for anyone creating food is to taste everything. For me, at the end of the day, nothing matters if the product doesn’t make the guest think “yum”. This requires daily tasting of your own mise en place, even if you aren’t hungry. Outside of work, taste everything else. If you want to open a place in five years, spend five years tasting everyone else’s food. The more various things that pass your tongue, the more you can pinpoint the subtle nuances that make your food unique to you.
Follow Dana’s example and get started with Avero today!
