How Sweet It Is

Executive Pastry Chef David Guas

In the beginning, odds were against native New Orleanian David Guas, Corporate Pastry Chef of DC Coast and Ceiba Restaurants in Washington, DC, having a culinary career. He was supposed to be a doctor. However, it was clear to this young man that becoming a chef was his calling and the only job he could ever consider. Fortunately for Guas, his background of culinary devotion helped him chase his dream, all the way to the nation's capital.

In the Guas family, all gatherings and entertainment centered around food. At the early age of six, during visits from his Cuban relatives, a curious, younger hand in the bunch seemed to be playing indoors and not outside with the other kids. And in this family, it was not always the woman taking charge in the kitchen. Guas' first mentor, his grandfather, inspired this impressionable young man and taught him that being in the kitchen did not make him any less of a man. "Abuelo" (grandfather) opened Guas' eyes to appreciate the cuisine of his Cuban heritage. "When Abuelo was visiting, my lunch changed drastically and my classmates knew from the whiff of an odd smell who had made my lunch that day." Guas has fond memories of the pressed Cuban sandwiches with extra pickles and mustard. Whenever Abuelo visited, he prepared a new Cuban dish for his family to taste. "If only I had written down the recipes, I would have my first cookbook already," Guas laments.

Of course there was feminine influence as well, right in his own backyard, in the form of his grandmother from Amite, Louisiana. "Granny" could often be found in the kitchen "burning" flour and butter in an iron skillet and promising that it was "goin' to be good eatin'." Learning to appreciate the fruits of Louisiana's soil, Granny taught Guas how to cook with seasonal blackberries, strawberries, and even wild berries from the back woods. "It was so much fun going with our cousins, early in the morning, to pick berries or visit nearby fruit and vegetable stands." Unlike most native Louisianians, who used large amounts of sugar and butter in everything they cooked, Guas' Granny stewed and puréed the fruits naturally, often blending them with savory herbs to flavor poultry and meats. Sunday morning breakfast was a ritualistic gathering, with buckwheat or cornbread pancakes and puréed fig preserves or fruit syrup, all natural and no sugar added. (But don't think for a minute that Guas did not sneak some of the homemade butter tucked away in the fridge, which was, after all, an acceptable sneak with Granny-she made it!) Unknowingly, the young Guas was learning techniques he would eventually incorporate into his future desserts.

The base provided by Guas' family was strong. Add to that natural talent and a passion for creating timeless desserts with a bit of updating, and you have a recipe for success. For someone without formal training, Guas has come far. He did take a few specialized cooking classes at a small culinary school in New Orleans after college, where he not only learned the basic, classical preparations, but also many of the cutting-edge techniques he needed to secure a job in a high-profile kitchen. As an associate pastry chef at the Windsor Court Hotel in New Orleans, with Executive Chef Jeff Tunks at the helm, Guas churned out thousands of desserts per week, to the delight of locals and national critics alike. Tunks took notice of this talented young assistant and began courting him-Tunks was leaving New Orleans to open his own restaurant in Washington, DC, and he needed a pastry chef. Guas packed up his bags and followed Tunks to Washington. The rest is history. DC Coast opened in June 1998 to critical acclaim. TenPenh followed two years later to more of the same. With the opening of TenPenh in August 2000, Guas became Executive Pastry Chef, splitting his time between the two restaurants. In September 2003, he drew deeply from his Cuban heritage to create Latin American- and Caribbean-inspired desserts for the third restaurant owned by the group, Ceiba. And two years later, with the opening of Acadiana, Guas developed sophisticated interpretations of his hometown dessert favorites from beignets to Bananas Foster.

During his seven years with Passion Food Hospitality, Guas' desserts have been recognized and praised by such publications as Food & Wine, Chocolatier, Santé, Cooking Light, Food Arts, Where Washington, Restaurant Digest, Restaurant Business, National Culinary Review, and Nation's Restaurant News. In September 2003, Bon Appétit featured Guas as one of eight Dessert Stars in the country. In 2004, the fourth year he was nominated, Guas was named Pastry Chef of the Year by the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington. He is listed in The International Who's Who of Chefs, and has appeared three times on The Today Show, demonstrating his expertise on national television. Of Guas' sweets at Ceiba, Restaurant Critic Tom Sietsema of The Washington Post writes, "I have yet to find a single dessert I can say no to," and Thomas Head, writing in The Washingtonian, states emphatically that Guas' desserts are "worth saving room for." Very sweet, indeed.