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Beverly Bates Bakes
By Alexandra Greeley, Special to The Washington Examiner
April 17, 2013
Running one pastry kitchen would overwhelm most of us. Running three must take grit, savvy and creativity, and that about sums up Beverly Bates, baker par excellence and pastry mastermind for chef Jeffrey Buben's Bistro Bis, Vidalia and -- the newest -- Woodward Table. And now recognized for her professional talents, Bates was recently nominated by the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington as the city's best pastry chef.
A native of New York and a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Bates started cooking at the age of 13, learning to cook on a wood-burning stove. Back then, she says, she would not have dreamed of making a living as a chef, much less as a baker. But the art of pastry appealed to her, and she knew she had a knack for it. "Baking gives me instant gratification," she says. "It gives me a sense of self-esteem, like discovery of a gift. Baking is the greatest reward."
