Best of Philly Pastry Chef Melissa Weller Leaves Walnut Street Café
Elizabeth Yee, a local young gun, has taken over at the University City all-day cafe.
Walnut Street Café’s Melissa Weller — the Best of Philly–winner behind the restaurant’s excellent bread and pastry program — is off to pursue new opportunities. Elizabeth Yee, a local talent with Lacroix cred, has taken the reins.
A Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College grad, Yee climbed the ranks from a line cook to a pastry chef at the Rittenhouse Hotel, eventually heading the pastry and bread programs for Lacroix, Bar 201 and the Mary Cassatt Tea Room.
Over the last month, Yee has worked with Weller to execute plated desserts, petit fours, grand buffets, and wedding cakes. And the new fall dessert menu already has a few contributions of her own: a s’mores baked alaska with dark chocolate ganache and straciatella ice cream; a huckleberry maple crème caramel with huckleberries, maple and an allspice tuile; a Black Forest cheesecake with sour cherry and dark chocolate brownie.
Be on the lookout for more additions to the morning pastry program, too.