He’s the first-ever winner of the televised cooking competition, Top Chef Just Desserts, and this Saturday, his new pâtisserie opens in Palo Alto, California. Pastry-chef Yigit Pura talks to T+L about passion, pastries, and the importance of pursuing your dreams.
Q: What have you been doing since your 2010 Top Chef-win?
A: Two years ago, we opened up Tout Sweet Pâtisserie in Union Square. San Franciscans are hard-core foodies. They like good food, and they’re really critical about it—which is awesome, but it really keeps me on my toes. We get a lot of tourists too, of course.
Q: And you’re expanding?
A: Yes. We’re in the process of opening our second and third stores. It’s a lot of work. We have our online store, and a new cookbook, Sweet Alchemy, that came out in August. I’ve been working on that for about three, four years. I have to say: I like being on television, because I like being part of a larger, national, conversation, but at the core of it, baking and cooking and being a chef is my passion. And that’s where I am now.
Q: Tell us about your background.
A: I moved here, to the U.S., when I was twelve years old. My father was a hard-working Turkish man. That’s where I get my work ethic. My mother’s side, they’re in Ankara, is huge. My grandfather was actually a restaurateur. Yet ironically, my mother was so adamantly against my being in the kitchen as a boy.
Q: So you’ve been able to do all this, despite the early protests of your family?
A: Yes. A good thing that came out of the Top Chef win, is that now I do a lot of public speaking. I’ve found that you really have to encourage people to follow their dreams. And I know that sounds pushy, but there’s a really great saying: if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life. And it’s so true.
I work 18-20 hours a day, and I literally won’t take a day off for months at a time. Every now and then I’ll stop and say: "You know, I think I should take a day off." But I’ve never once in my life said: "I hate what I do. I wish I could do something else," because I’m living my passion. And that’s huge.
Q: It is. And has your mom come around now, seeing how fulfilled you are?
A: My mom absolutely has come around. Now she thinks all this is her creation, which is kind of funny.
Also on Travel + Leisure:
Meet Our Local Experts
World's Strangest Desserts
Best Desserts Around the World
