Chef Isabel Coss is a rising star in the culinary world, having been named one of Food & Wine’s eleven “Best New Chefs in America” for 2023 and a 2024 RAMMY Award finalist for “Pastry Chef of the Year” by the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington. Originally from Mexico City, Coss serves as the executive chef of Pascual and the executive pastry chef of the RAMMY award-winning Lutèce. Her culinary creations are profoundly inspired by the local ingredients and traditional flavors of her native Mexico.
Coss initially aspired to become a professional ballerina, dedicating numerous years to this pursuit. However, her passion for food eventually led her to the pastry industry as a teenager. In 2011, she moved to New York, where she gained experience working at several highly acclaimed restaurants before relocating to Washington, D.C. During the pandemic, she joined her husband, Chef Matt Conroy, at Michelin Guide-recognized Lutèce, becoming an integral part of The Popal Group’s team. Her newest venture with the group, Pascual, which opened in February, has become one of the city’s hottest restaurants. It has achieved the top spot on The Washington Post’s list of the Best New Restaurants in D.C. in 2024 and, just recently, a spot in the 2024 Michelin Guide Washington D.C.
I recently had the opportunity to connect with Chef Coss and delve into her remarkable journey in the culinary industry.
What are some of your earliest childhood memories relating to food?
My earliest food memory was eating huitlacoche, a mushroom that grows in corn, with my grandfather, who was a farmer. My brother and I would visit him in Michoacán, Mexico, where he would often take us to the field with him. I vividly remember one hot summer day when he started a fire, cut some fresh huitlacoche from the cornfield, and made quesadillas with it. I was reluctant to try it, but he encouraged me to take a bite. I fell in love with it, and my relationship with food sprouted from there.
I also felt like the proverbial kid in a candy store every time I visited the candy tables at the local mercado. I fondly remember buying orange-flavored gummies covered in chili and chocolate-covered marshmallows, eating them from a plastic bag after school.
What led you to pursue a career in the food industry?
At age 17, I began my culinary career in Mexico City as a bread maker at the renowned Pujol. I always knew I wanted to do something creative, and when I stepped into a professional kitchen, I realized the discipline, movement, and attention to detail that ballet taught me had set me up perfectly to become a chef.
When did you move from Mexico and why?
I moved from Mexico City to New York City with plans to study at the Culinary Institute of America. However, I decided to take a different path once I realized the tuition cost. I took it upon myself to get into professional kitchens to obtain hands-on experience instead. That was in 2011, and there was a big pastry chef movement when pastry chefs were the superstars in the industry. Pastry chefs like Albert Adria, Jordi Roca and Alex Stupak were creating incredible dishes, and I wanted to learn from the best.
While in New York, I worked at Empellón with Chef Stupak and Chef Lauren Resler before reuniting with Chef Enrique Olvera, Chef Daniela Soto-Innes and Casamata Restaurant Group as the executive pastry chef at Cosme. That restaurant’s recognition on the World’s 50 Best list was an exciting time, and I was proud to receive the “Rising Pastry Chef” title from StarChefs in 2019.
How do you incorporate your Mexican roots into your menu?
The hearth is an important tool in historical Mexican cooking, so we decided to incorporate hearth cooking at Pascual because you can develop flavors in a beautiful way. We drew upon how the Aztecs used wood ashes as an essential ingredient in cooking corn and making masa for tortillas.
Pascual gets its name from San Pasqual, the patron saint of cooks and kitchens. It’s the restaurant that Matt and I have always wanted to create because of our deep love for cooking and eating Mexican food. We opened the restaurant in February of 2024 alongside our manager, Allison William, and our bar manager, Burke Podany. Burke sadly passed away right before the opening, and we dedicated this restaurant to his life and work and to every hard-working food industry employee.
How do you characterize the flavors and food your restaurants offer?
The food we cook at both Pascual and Lutèce is, first and foremost, delicious. Second, it’s seasonal, beautiful and always bright, thanks to a squeeze of lime at the end, a nice splash of vinegar or a pickle. Finally, it’s collaborative, and we invite the whole team to contribute and feel like part of the creative process.
Pascual pays homage to the buzz of life in Mexico City. The flavors of the city—fondas, caldos and salsas—inspire our menu there. Every dish touches our hearth in some way, rendering dishes like whole grilled dorade zarandeado or our lamb neck barbacoa with a smoky flavor. Among the most popular dishes are the sweet buñuelos with cajeta and chocolate or the fideos with huitlacoche cream, a nod to my grandfather.
Lutèce works closely with local farmers and purveyors to source the best local, sustainable ingredients. From there, we serve those ingredients, whether a seasonal vegetable or fresh fish, with careful preparation of the ingredients while also maintaining an upscale, casual French vibe for our guests. Our honeycomb semifreddo dessert is a big hit with diners, and I can’t ever take it off the menu. For that dessert, I took inspiration from classic French cheese boards and use 18-month comté cheese and honeycomb to make it.
What’s next for you?
Later this year, I plan to open Volcán, a daytime panadería offering pastries, coffees and agua frescas inside Pascual. Aside from my goals as a chef, I always want to keep my life filled with beauty, fun, and awe because those things foster a creative state of being for me. In the end, I try to focus not on what’s next but on enjoying the road and the journey.
This article first appeared on Forbes.com.
