TOP PASTRY CHEFS 2007

Age: 33
Home Town: Bedford, NH
Favorite Ingredients: Vanillas and chocolate
Signature Dish: Cremeux of praline with milk chocolate sableuse and passion fruit sorbet
Mentors: Many influences including Pierre Hermé, Oriol Balaguer, Paco Torreblanca and Emily Luchetti

Top Atlanta pastry chef Jonathan St. Hilaire played soccer in college and eventually went semi-pro before studying pastry at the French Culinary Institute in New York City. From his summers as a teen spent working in restaurants, he had always had an interest in cooking. But it was his experience opening a bakery while attending Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina, that drew him to the world of pastry. Stages with Francois Payard and David Bouley as well as working at Terrance Brennan’s Picholine and at Danny Meyer's Eleven Madison Park helped him to perfect his technique before he headed to Atlanta. There he pleased diners at 1848 House, Canoe, Spice, and Woodfire Grill before joining Todd Rushing and Bob Amick’s Concentric Restaurant Group, where he oversees the dessert menus for TROIS as well as the duo’s other eateries. At TROIS, one of our top new restaurants of the year, St. Hilaire turns out desserts with focused flavors in modern, clean presentations. The native New Englander likes seasonality and regional ingredients which he uses in dishes like warm mascarpone cheesecake with lemon cream and blueberry compote and Key lime tart with sour cream and lime mousse and raspberry sorbet.