Chef Bernadette C
Bernadette first started cooking on her own 5 years after her family moved from the Philippines to Ft. Worth, TX. She loved the Better Homes & Gardens Ground Beef Cookbook: Meatloaf With Ketchup Core & Whipped Mashed Potato Frosting?! Yes, please! They never had THAT back in Manila.
Growing up, she would watch her mom and dad cheerfully prepare a week’s worth of meals after their post-church shopping trip/food sample extravaganza at Kroger. It was the 20th century BC (Before Costco), and every week she and her 3 sisters would find new treasures to try: tamales, Frosted Flakes, kaiser rolls, wild rice, and eight kinds of ham!?
While deciding if she wanted to continue studying Art History in grad school, she found out she could do what she and her parents loved to do at home as an actual CAREER. She took a Culinary Institute of America brochure from the UT Austin job center and she ran!
She ran all the way to Upstate New York, then to NYC where she worked after graduation as a prep and line cook, sous chef, and executive chef at restaurants and event companies around town. The most memorable moment of her commercial kitchen career was at Bobby Flay’s Bolo the night she broke the sauté station record for the most paellas and lamb shanks served in one night. Sweet, sweet victory.
She eventually found herself as the private chef to the mother of a hip-hop icon. It didn’t take long to learn that the REAL superstar was her boss, who was quick with feedback and compliments, generous in every sense of the word, and the captain on their joint exploration of the local products and food cultures of this exciting city. With this mentor, Chef Bernadette found that learning NEVER ends. She had the freedom to discover the things she cares about: using clean seasonal ingredients, creating less waste in the kitchen, and celebrating both simple everyday moments and grand occasions with food.