At Your Service / Behind the scenes at local restaurants
Something for the sweet side of Valentine’s Day
Published: February 10, 2010, 12:30 am
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Lots of people are obsessed by dessert, but Valentina Garcia-Montano gets to make a living at it.
The pastry chef at Tempo, 581 Delaware Ave., Garcia-Montano is polishing her dessert menu for one of the restaurant year’s biggest nights: Valentine’s Day. She makes all of the four-star restaurant’s desserts, from the creme brulee to a new favorite, “Torta Gianduja,” chocolate hazelnut mousse in a salty streusel-like crust.
Garcia-Montano, who was born in Houston but raised in Argentina, has been working at Tempo for five years. After training in the Erie Community College culinary program, the 28-year-old was a Tempo line cook when Chef Paul Jenkins decided to let her try her hand at dessert.
Lots of places pull factory-made desserts out of the fridge to order. What’s the point of a pastry chef?
“There is a huge point. There is no comparison, with the quality, and the creativity. That’s the point. The things we make, you can’t just buy it anywhere. They’re like art.”
Valentine’s Day is coming, and you’re the pastry chef. No pressure.
“Then it’s time to mix things up, be creative, make nice little sexy garnishes for the night. I’m thinking Valentine’s is red, it’s chocolate, it’s pink, it’s hearts.”
Your stuff is center stage on what’s supposed to be the most romantic night of the year.
“Exactly. You’ve got to make it special —and dessert is the way to end it, like the bow on the package. She will remember. That’s what I care about.”
Come up with anything good lately?
“Our new best seller is this chocolate hazelnut mousse that I make, in a salty crust. Think about when you eat Reese’s peanut butter cups. Why is that so good? Because it’s salty and sweet.”
Sounds like classy Nutella.
“Nutella is one of the ingredients, but the crust is a hazelnut crust, flour and chocolate and toasted hazelnuts, like a streusel, basically. Then a Nutella mousse, and then it’s covered in ganache, and I pipe little dots of ganache and garnish it with whole hazelnuts on top.
I’m thinking for Valentine’s Day, gianduja hearts, with the hazelnut crust. That’s my move.”
Tell me about something that didn’t really work.
“A lot of stuff. The baking world is crazy, because you have to be accurate, and you have to be patient, and I’m very impulsive. When you’re used to cooking in the restaurant upstairs, you’re cooking in a rush. You don’t look at recipes. You know in your head how you’re going to make it. You can continue to tweak things—a dressing, a vinaigrette, a sauce. You can just add more of this or that.
But baking? If you forgot half a teaspoon of powder, you’ve screwed up everything.”
Find a recipe from Valentina at http://blogs.buffalonews.com/hungryformore
agalarneau@buffnews.com
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