MANILA, Philippines – “I hated waking up in the morning knowing that I had to do something that I didn’t love,” says Kristen Quito Bausa. It was her long-time dream to become a pastry chef, but she was working as a software engineer, following the advice of her father to get a different degree in college. After graduating, she decided to move to the US and pursue her dream.
“I attended a community college in Santa Barbara, they were pretty well known for their culinary program,” she says. “I basically attended classes with 17-year-olds and I was 24. I was culture shocked! It’s crazy what kids do nowadays.”
It being the first time she was away from home, Kristen had to deal with homesickness too. “I was really close to my family and had a good set of friends,” she says. “I miss home cooked meals – nothing compares to that! I try to come home every other year but it’s just not the same. When I first moved abroad, I would cry after each FaceTime call with my family. I didn’t think I would make it here, lalo na I’m my father’s princess.”
She adds she also had to adjust to doing everything herself – cooking, cleaning, laundry – “but experiencing it makes you appreciate everyone around you. It gave me a better perspective on life. I appreciated being independent.”
The competitive culinary program started with about 150 students. Kristen graduated with 50. “I was in the top 5 of the class so I was awarded a trip to France for two weeks, all expense paid,” she says. However, her visa did not allow her to make the trip. “I was bummed but I had to make a choice – to go to France for two weeks or to work here in the US for a year. So I stayed and went to New York to live the dream.”
It took Kristen good luck and sheer will power to survive New York. “I was based in California and every summer I would travel to New York and work,” she says. “As I was browsing the job sites, I saw an opening for a B&B (Bastianich and Batali) restaurant. I went ahead and applied, not thinking I would get a call.”
A week later, however, she got a call.
Kristen became part of Eataly New York – 50,000 square feet of restaurants, take-away counters, an upscale market and a cooking school – all under one roof. She started as a vegetable butcher, the lowest position in the kitchen, working her way up to line cook, expediter, then sous chef.
While she does not see famous chef-owner Mario Batali very often in the kitchen, she says, “I was impressed on how present he was during our opening days. I remember the day before we opened our doors to the public, I cooked for him and Gwyneth Paltrow.”
Cooking for these celebrities among many others, Kristen says she does get starstruck. “I used to just watch his shows and now he is tasting my food!” she says of Batali.
Two and a half years later, she is the head chef of Eataly’s Le Verdure, a vegetable-centric restaurant that highlights seasonal and local ingredients, and La Piazza, modeled after an Italian city square, serving specialties of different counters on the Eataly floor. She also handles the retail section for the company.
As the head chef, she says “it takes a lot of courage and will to surpass the challenges,” especially since kitchens are male-dominated. “I worked my way up, proved my abilities and did my best to get their attention and respect.”
Now married, Kristen has a young son and lives in New Jersey. She continues to be involved in the Eataly restaurants. “We are opening a couple more Eataly restaurants worldwide so I am hoping to be part of that development process,” she says.
To aspiring chefs, she says, “Work at restaurants where you can get really good experience – it doesn’t matter if you have to start at rock bottom – work your way up; prove yourself.”
Kristen emphasizes success does not come overnight. “You have to be driven, determined and patient in the industry. You go through rejections, mistakes, failures but remember that it only shapes you to become better.”