In honor of International Women’s Day on March 8 (and every day) we want to give a shout out and honor four women who make us all want to skip dinner and go right to dessert. These are the pastry chefs behind some of Lettuce Entertain You’s most famous (and top selling) dishes. Have you ever dug into the Oh My! Caramel Pie at Beatrix? We all know you’ve grabbed a cookie at Summer House Santa Monica or indulged in an Ice Cream Sundae at RPM Steak before, right?
Let us introduce you to the extraordinary talent behind these delicious desserts:
Pastry Chef: Yasmin Gutierrez
Desserts you definitely know: Oh My! Caramel Pie
Emmy’s Gluten Free Coffee Cake
Did you know: Chef Yasmin makes more than 500 cookies fresh every day and created more than 25 new recipes in just 2018 alone! Due to the high demand for her house-made cookies & pies, Chef Yasmin loves to come up with new recipes and specials like the Stuffed Nutella Cookie, Tall, Dark & Berry Handsome Chocolate Cake, Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookie and more!
Dessert she’s most proud of: With a hand pipe and her creativity, Chef Yasmin has mastered the art of beautifully decorated cookies. You can count on these customized, made-by-hand cookies for everything from holidays’ to the premiere of the new Star Wars movie.
Pastry Chef: Erin Mooney
Restaurant: Summer House Santa Monica. She also oversees the pastry programs at Stella Barra Pizzeria and Mon Ami Gabi.
Desserts you definitely know: Summer House cookies! Erin’s famous cookies are the first thing you see when you walk into the restaurant and since the Chicago locations of Summer House and Stella Barra opened, they’ve sold nearly 600,000 cookies! Her personal favorites are the Peanut Butter Cookie, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip and the Chewy Double Chocolate.
Dessert she’s most proud of: Our Sticky Toffee Pudding with apple compote, medjool dates, brown butter ice cream and walnut crunch – its got a great kick with the sweet and savory blend of the cinnamon and chili pepper.
What she’s most proud of at home: It’s funny how my proudest moment as a chef actually has to do with my son. I knew I’d be super bummed if he grew up to be a picky eater, so I was obsessed with cooking him things like curried lamb stew and spinach pie. I can’t believe how much it paid off – he will literally eat anything, which is no small feat for a toddler.
Pastry Chef: Hannah Mendelson
Dessert you definitely know: Ice Cream Sundaes at RPM Steak. “Whenever there are rotating items on a menu, try them! I have a lot of fun with these sundaes since they change seasonally, and I can play with delicious flavor combinations.”
Dessert she’s most proud of: The Coconut Carrot Cake with white chocolate at RPM Steak. “This carrot cake recipe is my favorite and makes people that don’t like carrot cake love it. Not to mention, this was part of my tasting with the chef team at RPM when I first got the job. I’m pretty sure, this is what won them over.”
It all started with chocolate and ice cream: I have always done some sort of pastry since I began working. When I was 14, I had an internship with a local chocolate company in Columbus, Ohio. From there, I moved on to work for Jeni’s Ice Cream in their bakery doing all the confections for the ice creams. Before heading to Chicago, Hannah was the Assistant Pastry Chef for Hollywood Casino Columbus and in 2015, she moved to Chicago and attended the French Pastry School. After school she took over as Pastry Chef for Nellcote and RM Champagne Salon before joining the RPM team in June 2017.
Did you know: Hannah’s book collection is no joke. I spend a lot of time reading and collecting Pastry books. I ran out of room to put them because I have so many! I think learning new techniques and trends is the key to being good in this industry. Being with the RPM division, I the opportunity to work with all types of cuisines which pushes me to learn and discover new desserts every day.
