Perhaps the most cheerful, outgoing person you will ever encounter is Cicely Austin, pastry chef at the very upscale Oval Room, just a block from the White House. And surely her desserts are just as cheery. So compelling are her offerings that she was just named by Food & Wine magazine as one of the 50 best pastry chefs in America. A metro-area native, growing up in Fort Washington, Austin went to school for engineering, but about the time of the Sept. 11 attacks, she realized that getting work in that field was increasingly difficult. It was time for a career change, she decided. “I always loved cooking with my dad, mom and family,” she said. “It became apparent that I could have a career [in the kitchen].”
To that end, Austin applied to the Culinary Institute of America in 2002, and after taking a year off, went back to enroll in its pastry program, graduating in 2004. The next step? A real kitchen job. “I asked pastry chef Johnny Iuzzini to please let me work with him at Jean-Georges restaurant as an intern for a year,” she said. Austin credits Iuzzini as her most influential mentor. “I learned more from him than from anyone else,” she says.
| If you go |
| The Oval Room |
| » Where: 800 Connecticut Ave. NW |
| » Info: 202-463-8700; ovalroom.com |
| » Hours: 11:30 a.m. to 10:15 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Friday, 5 to 10:30 p.m. Saturday, closed Sunday |
After that internship, Austin returned to D.C., trying to decide whether she would forge ahead as a pastry chef or return to the savory side of the kitchen. Figuring that she had the knowledge to work either, she applied for a job as a line cook. “Every chef just said, ‘You do pastry,’ ” she said.
Then, unexpectedly, Austin received a phone call from Jonathan Krinn, the then-executive chef of Falls Church’s restaurant 2941. “He asked, ‘Do you want a job?’ ” she said. “I had never even heard of the place. He talked to me for 10 minutes, and offered good money to start right away.”
She began immediately, and after a short while assisting in the pastry kitchen there, became its head. “Both executive chefs pushed me along,” she said. “They gave me guidance, and I found my voice.”
Her voice — and her style, which she describes as “playful but structured, with detailed plates” that take into account the line, shape, texture and height of the dessert. “I approach building a dessert like building a bridge,” she said. “I want people to feel that the dessert is worth eating. Why waste dessert on a cookie?”
With a family that’s overjoyed with her career and success, Austin faces a daily daunting task: Not only does she create desserts for the Oval Room, she is also responsible for shaping the dessert menu for sister restaurants Ardeo-Bardeo and the Bombay Club. That’s a challenge.
Q&A
What is your comfort food?
Oreos … I can eat three and be back on track.
Which chef do you admire most in the world?
Johnny Iuzzini. He is really ambitious, focused and driven. He loves food, loves to eat. I keep track of where he eats. He really made an impact. As for savory, Tony Conte, the chef here, and Jonathan Krinn.
What’s in your fridge?
Whoooo, peanut butter, mustard, lite mayo, organic eggs, baked potatoes and lots of veggies.
What is your must-have ingredient?
Peanut butter. Can never go wrong. It’s a staple. I have done lots of desserts that are a play on PB&J.
Which is your favorite cookbook?
My first book, “Amy’s Bread,” about a bakeshop in New York City. These days, it’s a tossup: “Nobu” and Johnny’s book [“Dessert FourPlay”].
Recipe
Double Dutch Brownies
Serves about 15
1 pound butter
2 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch salt
1 cup chopped chocolate or milk chocolate chunks
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Spray a 9-by-13-inch baking sheet, and line it with parchment paper.
Cream the butter and sugar together; stir in the eggs. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt together. Once the mixture is light in color and smooth, fold in the dry ingredients. Stir in the 1 cup chopped chocolate, and pour into the pan.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes; the center will feel soft, but that’s perfect. Cool before cutting.
