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With a growing slate of world-class pastry chefs in the valley, Jackson’s sweet reputation is rising
Jaclyn Bernard is pastry chef at Snake River Lodge and Spa and its Gamefish restaurant.
Being a successful pastry chef is about more than perfect endings. Pastry-making has its own sensibilities; it requires a special pace. Most pastries are made in batches or in one gigantic masterpiece commanding enormous amounts of time and attention. Pastry chefs are typically a part of every large restaurant or hotel kitchen, yet they provide a kind of background support that quietly complements the work of producing main courses for waiting diners. Sometimes they have a space of their own within the kitchen, but often they are the dedicated artists who work the odd hours when the kitchens are hushed.
When a hotel guest arrives for breakfast, the pastries are fresh and warm. Not everyone gives thought to the person who arrived hours before dawn to crank up the ovens.
Once you know it is in your blood to be a pastry chef, you still must decide which fork of the path to follow. It might be as a pastry chef in a fine hotel, as a competitor in a Culinary Olympics, or as a free agent who creates desserts for favorite local restaurants. In Jackson Hole, we have all three. Consider the following five individuals.
Jaclyn Bernard is a dynamic young woman who grew up in Tallahassee, Florida. As a teenager, she was waiting tables when she caught the eye of the three women who ran the Taste Buds Café next door. They taught her to use a chef’s knife and inspired her growth in the culinary arts. Soon after, she worked at Chicago’s Clock Tower Hyatt under Suzanne Imaz.
“I had no idea I was going to be a pastry chef, so I didn’t pay a lot of attention,” Bernard admits of her time with Imaz, who now makes pastries for the world-famous W Hotels.
After acquiring a degree in business with an emphasis in hotel and restaurant management from Florida State University, Bernard sent out a flurry of resumes. Following a phone interview, Kevin Humphries, executive chef at the Snake River Lodge and Spa, hired her for their opening to make salads and to plate desserts. She began her tenure believing all the while she was ultimately destined to do spa work. After the pastry chef walked, however, Bernard filled in, working extraordinarily hard. Six and a half years later, she is the pastry chef for the hotel and its signature restaurant, Gamefish. It’s clear that she loves her job.
“It’s measure, weigh, whip, fold,” Bernard says. “I can see no reason to leave. I am part of a great team and still learning.
“I’ve recently fallen in love with lemon verbena,” she adds.
Largely self-taught, Bernard says she has received inspiration from such books as The Secrets of Baking by Sherry Yard, of Wolfgang Puck’s Spago. Yard’s advice is that “salt and love” are the most important ingredients to add. Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course, Desserts from Gramercy Park is another favorite. Bernard has taken classes recently at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa, California, in plating desserts from Stephen Durfee of the French Laundry, in sugar sculptures from Susan Notter, and in molds from Michael Joy.
Javier Franco is the pastry chef at the Four Seasons Resort Jackson Hole. “I love the work; the table breads and breakfast pastries,” he says. “It’s being involved in the variety of textures, flavors, tastes, and temperatures, to train the staff to do all the skills.” Born in Guanajuato, Mexico, Franco moved to Los Angeles when he was sixteen. Starting out as a dishwasher at Alain Giraund’s and Michel Richard’s Citrus Restaurant, he became fascinated by the pastry work and hurried to keep ahead at his own station so he could help out. The chefs took notice and promoted him. Soon, he was helping train the interns from culinary schools.
Franco moved to the Patina Restaurant Group for the next three years, working under Chef Joaquim Splichal, for whom he supervised dessert production at five restaurants and a catering company. In 2001, he joined the team at the Four Seasons Los Angeles, and then moved over to Four Seasons Newport Beach (now The Island Hotel). He continued to hone his skills, including that of creating elaborate sugar and chocolate showpieces. The humble food artist was asked to be a guest chef at the Davidoff Gourmet Festival in Berlin, Germany, working at the Michelin two-star Grande Esplanade Hotel. Franco has also represented Mexico at the X Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie in Lyon, France. Having arrived at Four Seasons Resort Jackson Hole in the spring of 2006, he says he has flourished in the local environment, enjoying the outdoors and learning to ski.
Cioccolato, the little pastry shop established by pastry chef Oscar Ortega in 2004, is settling into its new, larger space at 130 West Broadway. Offering a full line of breads, breakfast pastries, chocolates, teas, and coffees, it reflects Ortega’s pursuit for perfection.
Ortega’s culinary training began in Mexico City at le Cordon Bleu, and he received pastry training in Italy at the Italian Center for Excellence in Culinary Arts (or CAST Alimenti). His vast experience and talent were augmented by many years of working in Michelin star-rated restaurants throughout Europe. Since 2004, he has been a key member of the Mexican Pastry Team in the Olympic Culinary Games. In 2006, he earned a silver and a bronze medal at the Pastry Masterpiece Competition in Las Vegas, Nevada, while Barry Callebaut, the world’s leading manufacturer of chocolate products, selected him to compete in the World Chocolate Masters, where he claimed two first prizes and third overall.
Ortega has so many sweet things on his plate that his movements are a blur. Mike DeLoy, his apprentice for the past year, describes his mentor as a very patient teacher, as well as an artist. “Every time I think I have seen all that he can do, he amazes me with something new,” DeLoy says.
For many years, the confections of Jeff Raymond have been favorite desserts at dining establishments around the valley, including The Blue Lion, Horse Creek Station, Sweetwater Restaurant, and even Jedediah’s at the airport. Just hearing the names of his desserts spoken—mocha hazelnut torte, lemon raspberry cake, chocolate macadamia, or Baileys cheesecake—can make diners swoon. Desserts by Jeff, the name of Raymond’s enterprise, provides highlights for many special occasions in Jackson Hole, yet Raymond maintains a surprisingly low profile. A self-taught talent who works overnight in the kitchen of The Blue Lion, he says the payoff for working these unorthodox hours is days free for outdoor pursuits.
Finally, there’e something especially delightful about the pastries, and all of the other luscious fare, prepared at Couloir’s lofty 9,200-foot elevation. Executive chef Wes Hamilton takes creative twists with the pastries here at one of Jackson Hole’s newest restaurants, accessed by way of a gondola ride from Teton Village. Hamilton received his formative training as a chef at The Cloister on Sea Island (Georgia) before moving to our valley. He spent three years as executive chef at Jenny Lake Lodge before attaining his dream position at the top of Jackson Hole’s dining world.
Hamilton says he loves making desserts. His creations this past summer, Couloir’s first season of operation, included a trio of crème brûlées that brought savory to sweet with rosemary, thyme, and basil; warm chocolate gateaus; vanilla poached Rogue River pears with maple walnut brittle; Meyer lemon crème anglaise; and, his favorite, tart au tatin.
Who knows what surprises he will bring to the winter menu? Little matter—whatever they are, they’re bound to be delectable.
