Carla Hall – CAP ’96

L’Academie de Cuisine graduate, Carla Hall is a contestant on Season 5 of Top Chef. See her battle it out with other culinary chefs on Bravo beginning Wednesday, November 12 at 10:00 pm. Carla has taught classes at L’Academie and will teach some intriguing recipes from her appearance on Top Chef beginning in spring 2009 when the show wraps up. We are all pulling for Carla and hope you will tune in to watch one of L’Academie’s most talented and gracious graduates compete for.

Carla is the chef and owner of Alchemy Caterers in Washington, D.C. Her food balances the heart and soul of the South and the refinement of her classic French training. She enjoys creating memorable comfort dishes with fresh, seasonal and local ingredients. Carla approaches each event as an opportunity to make a connection with the client and to change the way they experience food. She always has good European butter, Couverture chocolate, bacon, heavy cream, olive oil – pomace and extra virgin – on hand, and pies are one of her favorite things to make.

The 17 “Top Chef: New York” chef’testants will be skewered down week by week as they compete to out-flavor, out-cook and out-do their competition. The winning chef will receive $100,000 in seed money to help open a restaurant, furnished by the makers of the Glad family of products, a feature in Food & Wine magazine, a showcase at the Annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen and will earn the title of "Top Chef."

Virginia Willis – CAP ’94

Virginia Willis, Author, Editor, Food Stylist, and a 1994 graduate of L’Academie de Cuisine reports that Bon Appetit Y’all: Recipes and Stories from Three Generations of Southern Cooking (Ten Speed Press 2008) has gone into a second printing. She has just completed a national book tour and has twice been a guest on Martha Stewart. Visit www.virginiawillis.com.

Julie Jangali – Pastry ’04

Julie Jangali has one of the sweetest jobs as the Executive Pastry Chef of the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel. She attributes her very fast rise in the pastry field to her supervising chef, Mahon Da Silva, the former pastry chef at The Marriott Wardman Park in Washington, DC. Julie acknowledges that her passion for pastry grew as she gained confidence and skills during her classroom work and her externship at The Marriott Wardman Park. Chef Da Silva was known for his exquisite work with chocolate and sugar and she knew this was what she wanted to learn. Julie approached Chef Da Silva at Sweet Charity, an annual pastry event where L’Academie pastry students work with area pastry chefs.. He told her to call him the next week. After contacting him for three weeks, Julie finally gathered the courage to take her pastry book to him and sit in his office until he talked with her. Impressed with her gumption, Chef Da Silva hired her for her externship. Julie said she cried most every day during her externship and thought every day that she wasn’t meant to be in this profession. But she realized that she was growing as a cook and “being scared is normal, it’s up to you to set it aside”. And she did. In the four years since she graduated from L’Academie de Cuisine, Julie has participated in many pastry competitions on the national and international stage. Her first entry was in the National Pastry Competition and although she didn’t win, the next year she entered a competition in London and won the silver medal. She entered Patis France and placed 5th but her cake was given 2nd place. She is looking forward to entering this competition again in March 2009 if she can get time to practice with all her responsibilities as the pastry chef of a busy hotel. As the person in charge of the pastry department she says she is tough but approachable. She understands the need for organization and discipline in the kitchen and says there can be no egos on the line.

With her fast rise to Pastry Chef, Julie was asked if she had any regrets. She answered – yes and no. She would have loved to travel more and work around the world, but then she wouldn’t have had the intense training and discipline to become a leader in such a short time. As ready as she is to take on the pastry world her duties are clearly aligned with the goals of her employer. Her biggest challenge? Patience - patience with her staff of 10 and especially with herself. Julie’s advice to those starting in pastry is to work hard, keep your eyes and ears open and develop a thick skin.

What’s next for this rising star? Julie says she would like to continue to grow and do more competitions within the Marriott Hotels and in the distant future maybe The White House or a Food Network TV show beckon. For right now Julie is a terrific dynamo leading her staff and turning out spectacular confections in Baltimore.

Neil Wilson – CAP ’04

Neil Wilson always had a passion for cooking. He is currently a Personal Chef after completing his externship and working at the James Beard Award winning Palena restaurant in Washington, DC. Neil’s culinary education began when he was a young boy. His mother married a farmer, and Neil learned to make fresh bread, sausage and fresh pasta. In high school, Neil was the primary cook for family dinners and this continued to fuel his love of cooking.

But Neil did not immediately go into the culinary field. He chose the “safe” path of joining the U.S. Army and spent 20 years in tactical combat units finishing up his Army career with 2 years at the Pentagon. As he prepared to leave the Army, Neil knew he wanted to cook and wanted a structured, classic European curriculum. Since he already had a Bachelors Degree and a Masters Degree, he chose L’Academie de Cuisine. “From what I know of other schools, I learned more in the 6 months I spent in the classroom than most other students learned in the first two years they were at school” said Neil.

Neil found that what he learned at school was reinforced daily at Palena. Here, he learned how to deal with stress more so than in the Army. His organizational skills improved immensely and he loved his experience. After two years, he left Palena to spend more time with his wife and to open his own Personal Chef business – Neil Fletcher Wilson, Personal Chef Service.

Neil is currently a busy personal chef working at least 4 days a week. He thinks he has the perfect job and says he often uses the skills he was taught at L’Academie. “Actually this is a very rewarding career. When I heard others talk about it I thought I would have to give up what I learned in school. I get to do everything I learned in school and my clients are very appreciative.” One of the most important parts of this job is balancing the importance of each client “You can have powerful, important clients and single parents, retired people, etc., and you want to keep them all in balance and keep a viewpoint that everyone is important. “

Neil is currently working on his Certified Personal Chef accreditation through the United States Personal Chef Association. “I get to meet all types of people in all different settings” says Neil. As a personal chef, the main job everyone thinks about is going into people’s homes and cooking a week’s worth of meals. In addition to his home clients, he teaches (Neil will be teaching for L’Academie in the recreational classes beginning in the fall), he gives private cooking lessons, does Corporate Team Building workshops, Private Parties for 2 to 150, and Medical Recovery (if someone breaks a hip, Neil will cook meals for a week over the course of the recovery).

He thinks the hardest part of this job in the beginning was developing a payment structure. “You get so excited when someone wants to hire you that you can tend to underestimate what a fair price is. Now if I think the price is too low, I turn it down – after educating the person, of course.”

Brian Donaghy, Corporate Pastry Chef, Tomric Systems

Brian Donaghy graduated from L’Academie de Cuisine’s Pastry Arts Program in 1991 and worked for Chef Laurent Lhuillier at the Ritz Carlton in Tysons Corner, Virginia after completing his externship there.  He then moved on to work for Albert Uster Imports. 

During his tenure at Albert Uster where he worked closely with Chef Anil Rohira, Brian was Assistant Corporate Pastry Chef.  He travelled to Switzerland to test new products, to Chicago to represent AUI at the National Restaurant Association show, and to Las Vegas to attend the World Pastry Forum and World Pastry Championships.  He developed new products and wrote recipes for the company website, sales reps and customers and also took on the role of food stylist for the Albert Uster catalogs.  In essence Brian wore many different hats and says that he “enjoyed learning every moment of every day, particularly the science of pastry arts.” 

Brian is now the Corporate Pastry Chef for ChocoFresh, part of Tomric Systems, Inc., a Buffalo, New York company that designs, produces and distributes high-quality candy moulds, insert trays, accessories, equipment and packaging for confectionery and food applications.  Under the Tomric umbrella, ChocoFresh was recently created to meet the market's need for fresh and quality chocolates in the foodservice, hotel, grocery and related retail market segments. 

Here, Brian is responsible for all food items from their creation to the manufacturing and quality assurance processes.  Also, recipe development, testing new equipment, such as tempering units to moulds, and changes to the product line fall under his responsibility list.  He conducts demonstrations for customers and attends trade shows. 

“I am tremendously happy to have had three great chefs in my past; Anil Rohira, Laurent Lhuillier, and Mark Ramsdell (Head Instructor, Pastry Arts Program, L'Academie de Cuisine), and I am so lucky to have the opportunity to work around chocolate every day.  I am fortunate to work for an organization that wants to improve American chocolate making and is committed to bringing improved techniques and equipment from all over the world.  I love teaching the things that I have learned over the years from all of the great chefs and companies with whom I have worked!”

Harriet Siew’s Dream Job

With a degree in Philosophy from Boston University, Harriet Siew began her professional life in the banking industry.  After several years traveling overseas, she came to Washington, DC in 1995.  Upon arriving she began contemplating her next steps.  Would it be law school or business school?...  “I had never thought of the culinary arts as a career,” she says, but realizing she spent most of her spare time in the kitchen, the choice was obvious.  Harriet enrolled at L’Academie and completed her externship with Chef Brian McBride at the Park Hyatt.  She graduated from L'Academie's Culinary Arts Program in ’99 and had two revelations.  First, she loved the industry and working with people who loved food.  Second, she didn’t want to be a chef.  

Staying true to her revelations, Harriet went to work for M. Young Communications, a PR/Special Events firm located in Manhattan.  Her clients included Bon Appetit Magazine and the James Beard Foundation.  After September 11, 2001 she went to work for the 9/11 fund, Windows of Hope, a non-profit organization that raised funds for the families of foodservice workers lost at the World Trade Center.  After a year, Harriet heard that a food-related television network was in need of some behind-the-scenes culinary expertise.

Peter Smith, Owner & Executive Chef, PS7's Restaurant

“I’ve been involved with food for as long as I can remember,” says Peter Smith, a 1991 graduate of L’Academie de Cuisine’s Culinary Arts Program, and Executive Chef and Owner of PS 7's in downtown Washington, DC.

Pete chose L’Academie because of the intensity and short duration of its professional program.  He would come to school during the day and then work at his restaurant job in the evening.  “I worked all through school, I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t working.”  He completed his externship at The Occidental with well-known chef and restaurateur Jeffrey Buben, before he moved with Buben toVidalia in 1993.  An integral part of the staff, Pete became Executive Chef in early 1998 and worked to propel Vidalia to four-star status during his tenure there through the summer of 2005.

While he loves to read cookbooks, Pete admits he hasn’t had much time recently, his latest read was “something about Charcuterie” he says.  What’s kept him so busy these days?  In the fall of 2006, Pete opened his own restaurant PS7 in Washington DC’s Penn Quarter.  Of his dual role as chef and owner Pete says, “Everyone told me it would be hard…I knew it would be hard, but honestly, no matter how hard you imagine this job might be, multiply that by 3!”  When asked how he runs his kitchen he says with a smile, “Anticipate what can go wrong and stay in front of the problem.  Make lots of lists.  And a little OCD never hurts either.”

Pete regularly hires externs to work at his restaurant on both the line and in the pastry kitchen.  Advice he gives to those externs, “Shut up and listen,” he says with a smile.  On advice he wishes he were given as an extern, “Shut up and listen.”  Pete often returns to L’Academie to give cooking demonstrations to professional students and is the reigning champion, two years running, in L’Academie’s annual Chef’s Challenge competition.