Coffee with Chambers Pastry Chef, Stephanie Cho

Tell me about yourself.

I’m the pastry chef at Chambers, a restaurant in Tribeca. Before coming here, I worked at Restaurant Daniel and at Blue Hill at Stone Barns. I am a born and raised New Yorker and changed careers into pastry a few years after college.

What gets you up in the morning?

I open the restaurant each morning, so I’m up pretty early. I always write myself a pretty ambitious prep list the night before, so that’s usually what’s top of mind when I’m getting up. I’m constantly thinking of new ideas for the restaurant and it can be hard to shut my brain off. With my work schedule, I’m able to have a few hours at work to myself in the morning before the rest of the team arrives.

Before my work day starts, I try to get in some exercise and read a bit, but it doesn’t always happen. I almost always read the manager log and nightly report from the previous day’s service as soon as I wake up.

What’s something about your work that people don’t see, but should know?

I think people don’t see how much of this profession is repetition. Most of my day is spent doing the same tasks that I do everyday—shaping dough, mixing dough, baking bread, scaling recipes, spinning ice cream, etc. It’s not as glamorous as it seems! There are definitely lots of creative parts of my job, but there’s really no shortcut to getting good at this work. Developing consistency, speed, and intuition comes from doing the same thing hundreds, if not thousands of times, and trying to get a little better at it each time.

Best meal you’ve had recently?

Runner Up, the sister restaurant to Winner bakery in Park Slope, is one of the most exciting meals I’ve had in recent memory. It’s a very intimate space, only 12 seats, and the chef, Marky Bayer, is putting out thoughtful, delicious food that really highlights the best produce of the season. The menu changes frequently but everything I’ve had on two separate occasions has been incredible. My first time there, we started the meal with a warm baguette from Winner, which is truly one of the best in the city, followed by fluke with brown butter, capers, and tomato, shrimp soufflé with lobster sauce and sweet potato, salmon with broken rice and mushrooms, and heirloom chicken with corn grits and jus. They’re doing some really exciting things

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If you could have coffee with anyone, dead or alive?

My maternal grandmother who passed away a few years ago. She was a fantastic cook and baker throughout my childhood, but we always had a language barrier as she only spoke Korean and I never learned the language growing up. I wish we had been able to converse in each other’s native languages and that I could have learned more about her and her life.

What does your craft mean to you in one sentence?

Craft is a lifelong pursuit of mastery, and being able to care for others and bring joy to their lives through my work.

Follow Stephanie and her incredible work here!

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