“A woman’s place is in the kitchen.” Considering how long that notion has been around, you’d think the restaurant industry’s playing field would be more level.
Yet, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics 2016 survey, just 21.4 percent of chefs and head cooks are female. A 2016 gender pay gap study by Glassdoor shows that the chef position is tied for the second-highest “adjusted” wage gap, with women making 28.1 percent less than their male counterparts.
In this series, we’ll be taking a closer look at innovative women making waves in their field, plus learn how they got to where they are and their favorite dishes to serve.
Dinah Grossman
Spinning J Bakery and Soda Fountain
1000 N. California Ave. 872-829-2793
Dinah Grossman grew up in Maine, but had familial roots in Chicago—her mother’s birth place. After moving to the city 10 years ago with no culinary training whatsoever, she started her own baking company, Cheap Tart Bakery.
Cheap Tart Bakery had no storefront, despite its overflow of orders. Grossman operated the business out of a commissary kitchen on Chicago’s West Side and delivered pies to customer’s doorsteps. One of Cheap Tart’s—and Grossman’s—most famous accomplishments was the invention of the “pie pop,” a miniature pie on a stick.
When pie orders got out of hand and Grossman’s phone was ringing off the hook, she and her husband and business partner, Parker Whiteway, knew the next necessary business move: open up a storefront bakery.
Spinning J in Humboldt Park, open since 2015, has drawn national attention for its pie, soda and innovative takes on diner classics.
Favorite menu item: “One of my favorite dishes is our classic apple pie ($5). I was never a huge apple pie fan growing up, but once I started baking professionally I spent a lot of time adjusting my crust recipe, and finding the perfect varieties of apples for the filling. Now it’s a favorite. Seeing a tray of beautiful apple pies coming out of the oven, filling the room with that incredible aroma—it never gets old.”
Chef Yanni Sanchez??????
?Bar Takito
???????201 N. Morgan St. 312-888-9602
For Chef Yanni Sanchez, a passion for cooking excellent food was hereditary. She never dreamed of becoming a chef, but she grew up cooking alongside her aunt, who she says was “born with the skill.”
Sanchez was working in administration when she decided she needed a change in her life. That, she says, is when she decided she wanted to become a chef. She studied at the Culinary Institute of Mexico in her home country, then traveled to Europe to pursue her dream and finish her training in Paris. Her father was supportive of her decision, but didn’t like the idea of being an ocean away from his daughter.
“You are going to be super far from Dad!” he told her. “Go enjoy yourself and have a vacation, then come back and see if we can open a restaurant in Mexico.” Sanchez came back to North America and ended up in Chicago, where she fulfilled her dream of opening her own restaurant. She now works as the executive chef of Bar Takito.
Favorite menu item: “I’m very proud of everything, but for brunch I love the sope—a traditional dish in my country, which is a corn cake with rice, salsa and queso fresco ($14). It’s a classic dish. My technique is to create my own Scotch egg with chorizo. It’s a lovely dish.”
Chef Angelina Bastidas???????
Bin 36
161 N. Jefferson St. 312-995-6560
Growing up “eating with her eyes” and enjoying the intricate process of cooking with her grandmother, Chef Angelina Bastidas always kept the idea of becoming a chef in the back of her mind—but it wasn’t always a set-in-stone goal.
Inspired by Louis C.K. and Dane Cook, she once considered becoming a comedian, but decided it was more of a hobby for her than a career. Bastidas also thought about becoming a homicide detective, until her mother noted that the gruesome career might take its toll on her.
Realizing that cooking was “in her blood,” she enrolled at Le Cordon Bleu and began working as a hostess at a restaurant in Miami. When the chef where she worked questioned why she was working as a hostess if her goal was to be in the kitchen, he set her up at the salad station. Bastidas worked her way up from there.
The chef has quite a lot of accomplishments to her name, especially for her young age, including making Zagat’s “30 Under 30” in Miami and becoming the youngest ever chef to compete on “Top Chef.” The accolades weren’t handed over, though.
“Being a female chef is a battle,” Bastidas said. “People think women are emotional and no matter what you say, defending yourself or making a point, they think you’re about to cry. I’m just as strategic as a man in the kitchen. I can move just as fast and all those things helped me move forward. I’m a 27 year old, female Latina—those are big woes that can give you issues if you don’t defend yourself.”
Favorite menu item: “One of the dishes that I’m absolutely crazy about is the squid ink bucatini pasta. You have the black ink color in a porcelain white bowl—it’s beautiful. When the (server) walks out with the dish, everyone in the restaurant wants to know what it is. It has fresh calamari, shallots, garlic, roasted tomatoes, basil, Parmesan and house-made harissa paste ($17).”
Next week, we share stories from bartenders of Baptiste and Bottle, Remedy and Oriole.
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