Pastry chef bakes her way into making history at one of Chicago's largest restaurant groups
CHICAGO (CBS) -- It's not only Food Friday, but it's also the start of Hispanic Heritage Month.
To celebrate, we're highlighting Latino chefs and restaurateurs all month long.
To kick it off, the stream's Jamaica Ponder takes us to meet the first Mexican partner at one of the city's largest restaurant groups, and she got there through pastries.
It's mid-morning, and the pastry case at Beatrix is due for another restock.
"They start at 4 a.m. and come in and bake everything fresh."
Carefully stacking up the baked goods is Chef Yasmin Gutierrez.
"I oversee the whole pastry area."
And everything you see was once just a thought in the chef's head.
"What I do is I create new recipes, and I teach everyone how to make the recipes," Gutierrez said.
She's a chef partner with Lettuce Entertain You - the oldest restaurant group in Chicago.
'"I helped open this restaurant, and from Beatrix, the first restaurant we opened, I opened Ema."
And then another Beatrix.
"And then another Beatrix and another Beatrix, and it just started from there."
Then, in the midst of the Beatrix boom…
"I had the opportunity to become an executive pastry chef."
Putting her on track to become the first Mexican partner in the Lettuce Entertain You's history
"it was just a huge success for me and for the Latino community," Gutierrez said.
Opening a door that a lot of folks didn't realize was available for them.
"The moment I became a partner, all of the back of the house, all the staff, but especially back of the house, were in shock."
Seeing where she had come from and where she had managed to get to.
"My parents brought me here when I was five years old, and we started from zero. There was some barriers for me."
And before she could even get into a professional kitchen, chef had to figure out how she was going to get through school.
"Unfortunately, because I'm an immigrant, I could not apply for any loans. I didn't qualify for scholarships," she said.
Which meant to get a degree…
"I had to pay it in cash like it was no other option."
So she worked her way through til graduation - landing a job with Lettuce Entertain You in 2006.
"I started as a pastry cook, and I slowly moved myself upward."
Developing a signature style in her pastry.
"I try to remember my childhood and it could be the texture, it could be the crust, it could be something different."
Chef Gutierrez says that everything is made in-house. From her flan-like caramel cake to the cinnamon-laced throughout her recipes.
"But it's just like I, I want to remind people of, you know, Mexico."
You get a real taste of who she is in every bite.
Note: Yasmin Gutierrez's Lettuce Entertain You title was incorrect in an earlier version. It has been corrected to chef partner.
