Portland pastry chefs carve out bigger slice of the pie
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Siobhan Speirits of Cafe Olli and Kate McMillen of Lauretta Jean's. Photos: Courtesy of Raeann Serra and Ashley Courter
Pastry chefs finish last — in a meal, and often when it comes to their share of awards, media coverage and diners' attention. But that's changing.
Why it matters: A new generation of pastry talents — historically a women-dominated profession — are pushing boundaries, making headlines with their thought-provoking desserts, and getting the recognition they've long deserved.
State of play: Portland's pastry and bakery scene has a renewed energy. Dessert-focused shops are popping all over town and diners are going out of their way to stand in line for the city's most coveted sweet treats.
What they're saying: "Pastry in a fine dining, or even just a regular restaurant setting, is still an afterthought," Kate McMillen of standout pie shop Lauretta Jean's, tells Axios. "It's always overlooked."
Reality check: Pastry accolades still have a ways to go — take the James Beard Awards, which has only one combo category for "Outstanding Pastry Chef/Baker," two different art forms, out of dozens of others.
- Jinju Patisserie, which is said to have the best croissant in town, landed on this year's semifinalist list for outstanding bakery, albeit five years after it opened.
Yes, but: The national spotlight is still sweet. Siobhan Speirits, a co-owner and the baker behind Cafe Olli — where the pastries and bread take "a central focus" — tells Axios that when the New York Times named the all-day cafe one of the best restaurants in the country last year the response was overwhelming.
- "We were up there with some places that have been around for so long and are so well established," she says.
- The culture's collective sweet tooth has pushed the "pastry as a craft" conversation into the zeitgeist, Speirits adds, but she hopes it'll be given the "proper attention that it deserves."
The big picture: A recent Zippia survey found that 64% of pastry chefs in the U.S. are women, and 34% men, which is part of why chefs in this area may have received less attention — and lower pay. The same survey reports that women pastry chefs earned 88% of what men earned in 2022.
- "When I was younger and coming up in this industry, people really looked down on pastry and I never understood why because it's so technical and precise," Speirits says.
Zoom in: In Portland, we've seen a vibrant women-led bakery boom that spans the globe: Pastry chef Gabriella Martinez of Libre takes inspiration from Latin-inspired flavors, Lisa Nguyen's mochi doughnuts can be found all over town and Kristen D. Murray of Maurice is unafraid to throw her twist on French classics.
- "Dessert shops here are feeling more prevalent because we're not taking pastry as an afterthought. It's like, the whole deal," McMillen says.