A Pastry Chef from Heaven
Dana Iannelli, Pastry Chef, Addison Reserve Country Club, Delray Beach, Florida, USA.
I met Dana Iannelli in 2015 when I needed Chefs and Pastry Chefs to assist with a cook book I was shooting for Rick Dees titled“ Rick Dees Top 40 Desserts of All Time”. Executive Chef Rhy Waddington of Winged Foot Golf Club recommended Dana, and she flew up from Addison Reserve Country Club in Delray Beach, Florida to do the shoot. I knew immediately the talent she was, and I needed to work with her again. ~ Diana DeLucia
GK: Tell us a little about your background.
I come from a big Italian family, that prides itself on great food. At home, I spent a lot of time in the kitchen with my mom, cooking with her recipes and my Grandmothers’, even experimenting with my own. As a child, playing Chef with my Easy Bake Oven seemed to be a strong indicator to my family that my future would lead to the food industry [ laughs ]. I loved watching my family react to my kitchen creations, wanting to please my“ Grams” the most! We lived in South Jersey, just outside of Philadelphia. My mother, a talented cook herself, turned our home into a daycare center. My brother, sister, and I enjoyed being her helpers. In high school, I took extracurricular culinary classes, and my learning experiences there, along with the confidence and support of my teacher, solidified my desire to go to culinary school.
I was determined to attend the CIA( Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York) and I knew, that to be accepted, I had to gain experience and earn working hours in restaurants before I applied. I took a part-time position at Trump Plaza in Atlantic City in the summer of 2001 and there I met Pastry Chef Tom Vaccaro. I had a strong desire of becoming a Chef; I was working in the savory kitchen( not thinking I would ever do pastry). Chef Tom was on the Culinary Olympic Team at the time, and he mentored me, from showing me how to hold my knife to sharing insights about culinary school and the industry.
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