James Beard Award Winning Chef
Emily Luchetti
As an award-winning chef, Emily created these fruit spreads and caramel sauces to be both comforting and a little unexpected. Crafted to add depth and delight, enjoy with toast, desserts, cheese, or, for a creative twist, stirred into cocktails and mocktails. It’s pastry chef magic in a jar.
Emily Luchetti helped define what great pastry means in America. She began her long and successful career at The New York Restaurant School in New York City. After working on the line in restaurants in New York and France, she moved to California, where she joined the opening team at Jeremiah Tower’s Stars restaurant in San Francisco. It was here that Emily transitioned from the savory to the sweet side of the kitchen and never looked back, eventually becoming the executive pastry chef for eight years and playing a significant role in the American culinary revolution that began in the 1980s. She then went on to serve as executive pastry chef at Farallon, Waterbar, and for the Big Night Restaurant Group (The Cavalier, Marlowe, Cow Marlowe, Petit Marlowe, Park Tavern, and Leo’s Oyster Bar).
Emily’s honors include the James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef, the James Beard Foundation Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America, the Women Chefs & Restaurateurs Golden Whisk Award, and Food Arts Magazine Silver Spoon Award. The San Francisco Chronicle chose Emily as one of the 20 Visionary Chefs in the Bay Area and she was inducted into the Culinary Pioneers of America. As one of the culinary icons of America, she also has a room named after her at The Inn at Little Washington.
She has served as a Dean at The International Culinary Center in New York and California and was Chairperson of Women Chefs & Restaurateurs. For nineteen years Emily was on the James Beard Foundation Board of Trustees with roles that included Awards Committee Chair, Interim CEO, Vice-Chair, and Board Chair. She is a member of Les Dames d’Escoffier and treasurer of the Briones Lions Club.
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Emily currently sells her jams and caramel sauces at markets, pop-up stores, and online at sweetqueenllc.com. She is working on a book of prose and poetry about her life with food, ingredients, and the people who have inspired her. You can follow her on social media @emilyluchetti or emilyluchetti.substack.com to stay up to date on her food and ranch life. She lives in Northern California with her husband, as well as chickens, lambs, and llamas.