When food scribes wax on can’t miss desserts in South
Florida, no other name elicits a more passionate response than that
of Hedy Goldsmith. A 2012 James Beard award finalist for Outstanding Pastry Chef, the executive pastry chef at Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink, has an exciting year ahead. Her first cookbook, BAKING OUT LOUD: Fun Desserts with Big Flavors
(Clarkson Potter Publishers) now available on pre-sale, will be released nationwide on October 2, 2012.
In fact, since the restaurant opened in 2007 to immediate acclaim and standing-room-only crowds, part of its success has been the allure of Hedy’s magical touch, the perfect sweet match to her fellow Philly native, James Beard award-winning chef/owner Michael Schwartz’s fresh, simple and pure cuisine.
The New York Times has referred to Goldsmith’s desserts as “strikingly beautiful, but not contrived, they are marvels of texture and balance.” In addition to features in a myriad of national and local publications, Hedy’s now second season of expert contributions to Unique Sweets and appearances on Food(ography), America’s Best Bites, Iron Chef and Food Network’s The Best Thing I Ever Ate where the nation’s top culinary experts, New York Times’ Frank Bruni, chefs Michael Symon and Scott Conant debated which of Goldsmith’s creations stood supreme, have cemented her as a nationally-renowned expert in the pastry arts.
Hedy has been featured in People, The Wall Street Journal, Food & Wine, The New York Times, Bon Appétit, The New York Post, Wine Spectator, Huffington Post and MSNBC. This summer Hedy begins creating seasonal recipes for cookingchannel.com and blogging about all things sweet on foodnetwork.com.
Hedy creates desserts with simple, straightforward flavors presented in interesting combinations, particularly highlighting the balance between savory and sweet. She draws from a rich assortment of ingredients and unexpected techniques like roasting and smoking. Favorites include sophisticated sweets like ”popcorn and peanuts” a milk chocolate candy bar with buttered popcorn gelato, smoked bittersweet chocolate cream pie with roasted white chocolate crumbles to playful treats inspired by her childhood like her You Got Chocolate in my Peanut Butter Bars, Overstuffed O’s, Fig New T”s, Red Velvet Twinks and her now-legendary homemade Pop-Tarts. At Schwartz’s new Harry’s Pizzeria, Hedy’s fluffy zeppoli with honeyed homemade ricotta and chocolate chunk cookies are fast earning followers of their own.
Goldsmith began her career as an assistant pastry chef at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. After a brief stint at Bank of New York and Citibank, where she learned the business side of the industry, she relocated to Miami, where she took the position of pastry chef at James Beard award -winning chef Mark Militello’s celebrated Mark’s Place in North Miami. In 1996, during a friendly lunch with dessert guru Maida Heatter, Goldsmith met Nemo’s chef/owner, Michael Schwartz. Both were Philadelphia natives sharing the same culinary sensibility. She joined up with Schwartz overseeing desserts at Nemo and Shoji Sushi. Goldsmith went on to open South Beach’s celebrated Prime 112. In 2007, while developing what would become Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink in the Miami Design District, Schwartz approached Hedy to team up once again. The restaurant opened to immediate acclaim and their collaboration contributed to The New York Times recognizing the restaurant as the fourth best new restaurant in the country.
Goldsmith holds a B.A. in Photography and Film from the Philadelphia College of Art and graduated with honors from the Culinary Institute of America’s Baking & Pastry Program in New York.
Hedy resides in Coral Gables, Florida with her partner and their two shih tzu’s, Sweetpea & Cooper.
