Gracie's Pastry Chef Melissa Denmark
Food & Wine magazine has named Gracie’s Pastry Chef Melissa Denmark one of the 50 best new pastry chefs in the country, by nominating her for their first-ever The People’s Best New Pastry Chef Award. Now it’s up to the people who have experienced Denmark’s great talent at turning out world-class desserts to vote online for Denmark.
Beginning today, fans of Denmark’s pastry creations can cast a vote for her at foodandwine.com/the-peoples-pastry from a list of 50 nominees in three regions: East, West and Central. Fans can even join the conversation and promote Denmark as their favorite pastry chef on Twitter using #peoplespastry. Voting is open to the public from today through midnight on February 14. There will be one finalist from each of the three regions and the chef with the most votes will become The People’s Best New Pastry Chef.
“We are so proud of Melissa and her nomination,” said Ellen Gracyalny, owner of Gracie’s. “It’s exciting to see Food & Wine recognize the excellence that we see each and every day through Melissa’s special craft. Her creations tie our menu together beautifully; from the bread starters to that last delicious bite of dessert. We encourage anyone who has indulged in Melissa’s breads and desserts to support her work by voting for her.”
One of Chef Denmark's desserts: Gracie's Chocolate Cherry Tart
Denmark, a 2010 graduate of Johnson & Wales University, responding to the nomination, said, “It’s an honor to be selected to participate in this competition. I’m truly lucky to work in a restaurant such as Gracie’s, where I’m constantly inspired to grow and develop as a pastry chef.”
The finalists and the winner of The People’s Best New Pastry Chef Award will be announced on foodandwine.com on February 15. The winner will be profiled in the “Hungry Crowd” column of the May issue of Food & Wine and will attend the 30th anniversary of the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen in June.
You can read other Eat Drink RI posts about Denmark here. Eat Drink RI asks you to please vote for Denmark, tell all your friends to vote and share this story across all the social media you use to get as many votes as we can for Denmark to make her not only the East region winner but the People’s Best New Pastry Chef in the country. Buttons to share the post can be found below.
