Star Spotlight: Isabel Fitzpatrick

Once a week, Sophomore Isabel Fitzpatrick works at Andres, helping the chefs and plating desserts.

Isabel+Fitzpatrick+sits+in+the+quad+with+a+cake+she+made+herself.+Fitzpatrick+is+a+pastry+chef+at+Andres.+photo+by+Kate+Scofield

Isabel Fitzpatrick sits in the quad with a cake she made herself. Fitzpatrick is a pastry chef at Andres. photo by Kate Scofield

by Victoria Cahoon and Kate Scofield

The Dart: When and why did you start cooking?

Fitzpatrick: “Really little because my mom always liked to cook, she lived in Austria with my grandmother for a long time [when she was young], so she learned different styles of european baking and she passed them to on to [my sister and me]. My parents don’t bake for a job but it has been a hobby of my mother.”

D: How did you get your job and what is it like working at Andres?

F: “I got my job by going in and asking until it was actually time for them to hire new people. I went in about four times over the course of two years, and I eventually went in at the right time. I plate desserts for the restaurant and put whipped cream rosettes on the deserts, so the servers take around the trays of pastries that I plated. I just do little tasks for them, [in the future] they said I might get to bake some stuff but I haven’t been doing that yet.”

D: When do you get the chance to bake some of your own stuff?

F: “During the week, I don’t get to bake a lot unless we’re having an advisory party or clubs, but I try to bake as much as I can on the weekends, so I’ll bake from when we get out school on Friday till midnight and same with Saturdays when I get out of work. My absolute favorite thing to bake would have to bee chocolate soufflés.”

D: What’s your favorite part about cooking?

F: “Probably seeing the end product, assembling and putting everything together to create something really cool.”

D: Do you want to be a chef when you get older?

F: “Yes! I want to own my bakery, that’s what my dream job would be. I prefer European baking, so I don’t like working with American stuff… It isn’t really my forte, it would be more like a french patisserie.”