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PASTRY CHEFS 2004

Age: 32
Home Town:
Berkeley, CA
Favorite Ingredient:
chocolate
Signature Dish:
Chocolate Purist—warm cocoa nib cake, dark Venezuelan chocolate ganache and chocolate ice cream
Mentor:
Donald Wressell

Aaron Lindgren’s Berkeley upbringing sparked an early culinary awareness that eventually led to pastry turns at Sweet Basil in Vail and Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago. After studying with chocolatiers Jacquy Pfeiffer and Sebastian Cannone, he joined Donald Wressell and his team at the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills. That led Lindgren to create Aaron Lindgren Chocolates, a chocolate business that went hand-in-hand with his post as consultant for Comparte’s in Brentwood, Calif. Now Lindgren’s back on the restaurant side, matching wits with the French-Japanese sensibilities of the hip, Dodd Mitchell-designed, Cinch. Though inspired by the abundance of fantastic fruit available in Southern California, chocolate is still closest to this chef’s heart.

Chocolate Purist



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