Nancy Silverton
| Nancy Silverton | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1954 Los Angeles, California |
| Residence | Los Angeles, California |
| Education | Le Cordon Bleu Ecole Lenotre Culinary Institute |
| Occupation | Chef Author |
| Years active | 1984 - present |
| Employer | Osteria Mozza Pizzeria Mozza |
| Notable work |
The Mozza Cookbook Breads from the LaBrea Bakery |
| Awards | Outstanding Chef, James Beard Foundation Award (2014) Best of Food and Entertaining (1999) Bon Appétit Pastry Chef of the Year, James Beard Foundation (1990) |
Nancy Silverton is an American chef, baker, and author. The winner of the James Beard Foundation's Outstanding Chef Award in 2014, Silverton is recognized for her role in popularizing sourdough and artisan breads in the United States.
Silverton grew up in Sherman Oaks and Encino, in Southern California's San Fernando Valley. Her mother, Doris, was a writer for the soap opera General Hospital and her father, Larry, was a lawyer. Silverton enrolled at Sonoma State University as a political science major, but decided to become a chef in her freshman year after she had what she later described as an epiphany. "I was cooking in the dorms in a stainless steel kitchen, cooking vegetarian food, and I remember this light bulb going off and thinking 'Oh wait, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life,' " she said in a 2013 interview.
Silverton dropped out of Sonoma State in her senior year, and decided to train formally as a chef at Le Cordon Bleu in London. In 1979, following her graduation, she returned to Southern California, where she worked with pastry chef Jimmy Brinkeley at Michael’s, an acclaimed restaurant in Santa Monica. Inspired by his creativity, she returned to Europe to attend Ecole Lenotre Culinary Institute in Plasir, France to further her studies.
After Silverton returned to Los Angeles in 1982, she was hired by Wolfgang Puck as Spago's opening pastry chef, and in 1986, she wrote her first cookbook, Desserts. In 1989, Silverton, her then-husband, chef Mark Peel, and Manfred Krankl opened Campanile, about which critic Jonathan Gold would later write: "It is hard to overstate Campanile's contributions to American cooking." Almost as an afterthought, Silverton and Peel opened La Brea Bakery in a space which adjoined the main restaurant; it opened prior to Campanile. Silverton served as the head baker at the bakery and the head pastry chef at the restaurant, which was located on La Brea Avenue in the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles.
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