Hi! I am Heidi and a pastry chef! I earned my bachelors in Art Studio with minors in English and Art History from UC-Davis. I then decided to change mediums and traded in my camera for a KitchenAid mixer. Which led me to The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY for an associates in Baking & Pastry Arts. I previously worked in the pastry departments of The Phoenician-Scottsdale, Nobu-San Diego and El Bizocho (which is now Avant)-The Rancho Bernardo Inn. Summer 2021 I graduated with a master’s degree in Food Business from The Culinary Institute of America. I’d like to take a few years off from school before applying to Johnson & Wales doctor of business administration program! I live in Mt. Helix/La Mesa, CA with my husband Tommy and our rescue cat Tato. I joke that I had to learn to cook because my husband isn’t into sweets, go figure! Pre-COVID I loved attending concerts, traveling, and indoor rowing classes. I still love food, wine, cooking, baking, zoom cooking/baking classes, gardening and collecting cookbooks! Among family and friends I am known for my cinnamon rolls and sopapilla cheesecake bars. For the past 11+ years I have worked in Poway at Posh Pantry, which is a commercial/wholesale bakery as their Research and Development manager. We make the private label cakes for Smart & Final and our own branded items for Costco, Kroger, Vons, Alberton’s, Stater Bros., Ralphs, Food for Less, and other grocery stores. On the side I make eclairs on Fridays and Saturdays for my friend Yutaka’s restaurant Tanuki located in Kensington (he’s a former Nobu trained sushi chef).
