After tasting some of pastry chef David Guas` sweet creations, you`ll

mid-atlantic living
left: New Orleans native David Guas
draws on his Louisiana roots and Latin
American influences as executive pastry
chef at Ceiba restaurant. below: David's
Cuban-American relatives in Miami
inspired many of his creations, such as
this cheesecake with guava jelly.
After tasting some
of pastry chef
David Guas' sweet
creations, you'll wa nt
to eat dessert first.
Just Desserts in D.C.
A
paper-thin palm tree cookie
sways on my plate, while a
surprisingly realistic faux bird of
paradise plant hangs overhead. The
vibe at Ceiba (SAY-bah) restaurant is
decidedly South Beach. Popular for
its contemporary twists on traditional
Latin American cuisine, the restau­
rant also wins rave reviews for the
remarkable desserts created by exec­
utive pastry chef David Guas.
"I cook the way I like to eat," David
says of his simple but sincere ap­
proach to food. "I'm not Mr. Temper­
Chocolate, Pulled-Sugar Gaudy."
Big Easy Beginnings
The son of Cuban immigrants who
settled in New Orleans, David cut his
IO-mid-atlantic living
sweet tooth with executive chef Jeff
Tunks at the Windsor Court Hotel.
"On my first day, my boss told me
to meringue 500 lemon tarts, and I
didn't even know how to use a piping
bag," he says. "I figured it out." His
tenacity and ability to wing it won the
executive chef's confidence. When
Jeff went to Washington to open
DC Coast restaurant in 1998, he took
David along.
"At DC Coast I was sous-chef,
pastry chef, and everything else that
goes with opening a restaurant from
scratch," David says with a grin. En­
couraged by the restaurant's success,
the chefs opened TenPenh two years
later and Ceiba in 2003.
Because the new restaurant offered
contemporary Latin American cui­
sine, a team from Ceiba traveled
through Mexico, Central America,
and Brazil to research their culinary
traditions, and David headed to
Miami to learn more from his Cl1ban­
American relatives.
Studying with his aunts and
cousins, he discovered the secrets for
making perfectly silky flan, sweetly
spiced calabaza (pumpkin fritters),
and classic pastalitos, a pastry filled
with guava paste and cream cheese.
The Secrets of Perfect Pastry
Back in Ceiba's kitchen, David and
the chef de cuisine get ready for the
D.C. dinner crowd. With minutes to
go before opening, the two chefs
above, left: Amural of a ceiba tree, which gives the restaurant its name, overlooks the airy dining room. above, right: The pastry
chef pipes meringue onto a pan of his Key lime tarts.
huddle to discuss the night's menu.
There's no time to lose as diners begin
filling the 180-seat restaurant.
"You can feel it in the air," David
says, moving deftly among a dozen
complicated dessert creations.
Within minutes David has crowned
Key lime tarts with mini-beehives
of meringue and torched them for a
golden, just-out-of-the-oven look.
Focus is key when just three
degrees can mean the difference
between a pan of buttery, amber­
caramelized sugar and a scorched one.
"The trick," he says, "is to put a pan
on top of the one holding the caramel
so that steam runs down the sides and
the sugar granules don't crystallize."
Accolades and Acadiana
A frequent Today Show on-air
guest who was named Pastry
Chef of the Year by the Restau­
rant Association of Metropoli­
tan Washington D.C. in 2004,
David has come a long way
from not knowing which end of
a pastry bag to squeeze.
Meanwhile, he and his chef
colleagues continue to explore
the regional foods and ingre­
dients of South, Central, and
North America. Their latest
D.C. venture, Acadiana, will
plumb the Cajun cuisines David
grew up with in Louisiana.
With all of his success, what
advice would David give to
would-be pastry chefs and Sun­
day cooks? "Don't be afraid to
get in there and get dirty," he
says. "Roll up your sleeves, and
grab a piping bag on your first
day."
MELANIE PARKER
Ceiba is located in the Colorado
Building at 701 14th Street NW.
Reservations are strongly recom­
mended. Call (202) 393-3983, or
visit www.ceibarestaurant.com.
Cycling
Chefs
David takes his fun as
seriously as he does his
cooking. One personal
passion is motorcycling
with fellow D.C. area
chefs. Joined by Robert
Weidmaier of Marcel's
and Cliff Wharton of
TenPenh, he formed the
Rolling Chefs, a motorcy­
cle group dedicated to
discovering and support­
ing local farmers. Each
weekend, the cyclists
travel through Maryland
and Virginia, finding new
sources for locally pro­
duced meat, fish, fruits,
and vegetables.
mid-atlantic living -I3