If you watched Bravo’s debut season of Top Chef: Just Desserts last year, you learned that pastry chefs can be just as competitive (and just as cutting) as their meat-and-potatoes counterparts.  To some, the pressure on pastry chefs is even greater, as most of their creations require perfect recall of ingredient ratios, temperatures and cooking times.  If a souffle doesn’t come together, it’s a lot harder for them to pivot and turn it into another dessert on the fly.

With all that in mind, Bravo is offering up a tasty treat: a second helping of Just Desserts!  Season Two debuts tomorrow night, and the competition has expanded from twelve chefs to fourteen.  We were excited to see that DC would be represented once again, this time by CityZen’s Matthew Petersen.

Petersen has been at CityZen for a little over a year now, and he’s been earning praise for his blending of classic techniques with creative twists.  We caught up with him over email as he was getting ready for his next big thing: a three-course “Simply Dessert” tasting menu ($25) that will change weekly on Thursdays – conveniently the day after each episode of Top Chef: Just Desserts airs.

Questions and answers are reprinted in their entirety without any editing or revision:

Capital Spice: Thanks for taking the time to chat with us, Chef.  Let’s start with the basics: What inspired you to compete?
Matthew Petersen: I decided that it would be a great opportunity so I decided to apply.

CS: You studied baking and pastry in culinary school – what drew you to them?
MP: I always knew, from about the age of 15, that I wanted to work in a kitchen making pastry of some sort.  I didn’t know then that I would end up in mostly fine dining restaurants working with some great chefs.  At an early age I was surrounded by great, simple, homemade pastry.

CS: CityZen is well-known for the creativity of its menu, from appetizers to desserts.  What is it like working in that kind of environment?
MP: I love working with [Chef] Eric [Ziebold] at CityZen.  The constant rotation of the menu pushes my creativity more than any other restaurant I have been at.  I would say that I thrive in this kind of environment where you are pushed to your limits in every capacity.  It is a grueling effort sometimes but the rewards are great.

What it’s like to follow a Beard Award-nominated chef and more after the jump.

Image by Bravo

CS: Your predecessor at CityZen [Chef Amanda Cook] was there for three years and was actually rumored to be a contestant on the first season of Top Chef: Just Desserts.  Did you find it difficult to make the menu your own without putting off long-time fans?
MP: Amanda is an amazing pastry chef and certainly made my job difficult in that her reputation preceded her.  I had some big “shoes” to fill if you will, but I was up to the challenge.  I am a little bit of classic and a little bit of modern so my style fits with what Eric does, but stands out in a way that hopefully makes you think more about what you are eating.

CS: Before coming to DC you worked for Daniel Boulud in New York and Florida.  Why move to Washington?
MP: Originally I wanted to move back to NYC, but my wife and I were expecting, so we decided that raising an infant there was not what we wanted.  I am from Philly and my wife, Laura, is from Boston, but we didn’t want to live in either of those cities and raise our family either.  Washington DC became the obvious choice for us for many reasons.  There is a great public school system in Arlington and it’s a stones throw away from the museums and memorials in the city. I can also ride my bike everywhere around here; it is one of the best bike friendly areas I have lived in.

CS: In your Top Chef bio, they describe you as residing in Arlington, not Washington.  Was that your choice or the producers?
MP: I really do live in Arlington.
NOTE: We asked because Petersen seems to be the only cheftestant whose bio describes him as living outside the city where he works.  Points to Petersen for representing Arlington AND the District!

CS: When you get a night out with your wife, where do you like to eat?
MP: We usually head down to Guapo’s for margaritas and tacos in Shirlington.  We get to the city sometimes, but not as often as I would like; it’s hard to find a good babysitter!

CS: What would you say is the most over-done item in pastry chefs’ repertoires today?
MP: Deconstruction and too many flavors/gimmicks.

CS: And what’s the item you’d like to see more of?
MP: Focus on flavor and simplicity.

CS: Finally, what kind of dessert would we be most likely to find candles atop on your birthday?
MP: A croquembouche!  I love them!  Of course I would probably have to make it though, but it’s worth the work.

Be sure to check out the new season of Top Chef: Just Desserts starting tomorrow night on Bravo to see how Chef Petersen does.  We’re thinking we may have to stop into Sou’Wester at the Mandarin Oriental one of these Wednesdays…Chef Petersen will be serving up complimentary orders of banana fritters to everyone who dines there on Wednesdays between 6 and 9 PM.  Sounds like a sweet way to lead into the show!

 

 

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