How Chef Stefani De Palma Led Team USA to Gold at Bocuse d’Or Americas

TRANSCRIPT

Kirk Bachmann: Hi everyone. I’m Kirk Bachmann, and welcome back to The Ultimate Dish. Today, I’m thrilled to welcome a first-time guest whose culinary journey is nothing short of extraordinary—Chef Stefani De Palma.

Originally from Arcadia, California, Stefani moved to San Diego in 2007 – straight out of culinary school – to join the team at Addison Restaurant.

Over the years, she climbed the ranks, from Chef de Partie to Pastry Sous Chef and ultimately to Chef de Cuisine, working alongside Chef William Bradley to uphold and elevate Addison’s tradition of excellence.

That hard work paid off when the restaurant earned its coveted third Michelin star in 2022.

Stefani’s talent and leadership haven’t gone unnoticed. In 2024, she was named one of InsideHook’s “20 Chefs to Watch,” a nomination from none other than Chef Daniel Boulud.

She also took First Place at the Bocuse d’Or Americas Selection—and went on to lead Team USA as Head Chef at the 2025 Bocuse d’Or Finale.

Today, we’ll explore Stefani’s rise through one of America’s most prestigious kitchens, her expertise in competing on the global culinary stage, and what it takes to represent your country in the world’s most elite cooking competition.

And there she is. Good morning! Good morning. Good morning. Thanks for being here.

Stefani De Palma: Good morning. Thank you for having me.

Kirk Bachmann: Absolutely. I’m kind of nervous. I’m so excited about this. I absolutely love it.

Let’s set the stage a little bit. Thank you for finding the time. You’re in Napa today. What’s going on in Napa?

Stefani De Palma: I live in Napa. Yeah.

Kirk Bachmann: Beautiful weather? Gorgeous weather?

Stefani De Palma: Beautiful weather. It has warmed up.

Kirk Bachmann: What’s “cold” in Napa? Did it get down to 59?

Stefani De Palma: You know what, for winter it gets cold here. I was born and raised in Southern California. Cold up here is cold for me.

Kirk Bachmann: Yeah. Well, we’re in Boulder, and it could be 32 degrees in the morning and 82 degrees in the afternoon. We’re not growing wine here.

Stefani De Palma: Yeah. Perfect.

The Legacy of Bocuse d’Or

Kirk Bachmann: So Chef, first of all, congratulations on all the success leading Team USA as the head chef. What a tremendous accomplishment! I’m going to try to embarrass you and get you to talk about everything today. We’ve had Gavin on the show, so the chat with you is an incredible honor. I would just love to get a little insight on what’s life like after Bocuse d’Or.

Stefani De Palma: It was an honor in itself to represent the U.S. Not many chefs get to do something like that, represent their country on a world stage, so the comedown from that was pretty intense. We got back to the U.S. We were celebrating just how proud we were, what we did, and what we accomplished. Then, we kind of reset the kitchen, the team kind of trickled away and went their separate ways, and I’ve kind of just settled back into normalcy a little bit. Taking a little breather.

Kirk Bachmann: Is there this sort of obligation, like those before you, to now give back to the next group that goes over, the next chef that goes over?

Stefani De Palma: Yeah, of course. A lot of my time when I was at Addison – something that was really instilled in us – was leave it better than you came. When I was closing down the kitchen, I wanted to leave next year’s team a lot of resources that I had procured over my time with the team and try to set them up for success when they start next year. I’ve let Ment’or know that I’m a phone call away if they need anything. I’ll probably remain in the Napa area, which is where the team trains out of, so I’m here for them.

The Selection Process

Kirk Bachmann: That’s great. That’s great. Such humility – I love that.

I read a quote from you, and I quote: “I’m the type of person who’s focused on one goal at a time. Now my eyes are set on what we need to accomplish in Lyon.” We’ll get to all of that in just a moment. But for our listeners, our students, our staff, [and] friends of Escoffier who might not be familiar with the overview of the Bocuse d’Or, could you run through exactly why this competition is so unbelievably revered in the world, and how do you get selected to represent the United States? It’s a long process.

Stefani De Palma: Absolutely. Our selection took place in September of 2023. Chefs that are interested, they apply. They are interviewed by the Ment’or Foundation, and then those chefs who are selected compete in a competition that mimics the actual competition. We had to do a plated theme, a platter theme. That competition itself is held at the CIA Copia campus here in Napa. There are a lot of chefs from the Ment’or culinary council that sit as judges. They score, and may the best chef win.

From there, it starts the process of the Bocuse d’Or. This competition was created by chef Paul Bocuse, and each year the theme honors him and his passion in the culinary world. A year and a half later, 24 countries gather and compete against each other in Lyon, France.

Kirk Bachmann: So it’s often described as the Olympics of cooking. Again, another curve ball – how different is the intensity of it [from] the actual Culinary Olympics that take place typically in Germany every four years?

Stefani De Palma: I don’t know. I’ve never really dived into that aspect of what the Culinary Olympics entail. From what I learned in this, of course you’re competing against other countries, but you’re also really focused on making your food the best it can be. Aside from the technical aspect of everything, it just becomes a culmination of collaboration with chef advisers that you bring on, designers, the team members themselves. That’s just a really beautiful process.

The Vision and the Team

Kirk Bachmann: That’s what’s so fascinating to me. You see things on Instagram and different television programs, Stefani. The amount of collaboration that goes on. Is the vision something that comes together together, or is it sort of your vision, and you get a lot of help in how to execute that vision?

Stefani De Palma: A little bit of both. I very much wanted the team to collaborate on this so that they felt really involved and had a say in what we were doing. I wasn’t going to lead this team like, “It’s my way or the highway,” because this was my first time diving into this arena. I don’t know everything. I was going to bring advisers onto the team that could really contribute in their specific skills.

Dave Beran, who was actually on your podcast as well – he was a huge help in crafting the overall vision. We chatted for hours about what was in my brain and how to bring that to life. He was a huge help in that aspect.

Kirk Bachmann: That’s just great. What people don’t realize – and I don’t ever want to downplay the countless hours, sleepless nights, the thinking, the rethinking, the precision – and then that performance and all that passion has to roll into one.

I was hoping you could take us all the way back to New Orleans in June of 2024 when you, your commis, Bradley – we should talk about Bradley a little bit as well – competed against all of these other teams. I think eight different countries were represented. What was it like preparing for that moment? Could you wrap how Bradley [fit]? How did you select Bradley? How does a commis get to be on that stage with you?

Stefani De Palma: A commis is probably the hardest position to fill because of the age. They have to be under 22.

Kirk Bachmann: Oh, it cannot. I didn’t know that.

Stefani De Palma: Bradley and I got connected through chef Devin Knell. Bradley worked at Regiis Ova for a stint. That’s where he met Devin. Then Bradley went to England to work with a chef there.

Then when I got involved with the application process, I had known Devin for years. He was like, “Hey, I know this guy. He’s the right age. You guys should meet.” We had a Zoom chat. We decided to work together. We tried out together for the selection. He won Best Commis, which gave him a spot on the team, so we got to do the whole process together, which was really cool.

Kirk Bachmann: That’s amazing. Where is he today? Do you guys still stay in touch?

Stefani De Palma: We do. He’s working right now with Phil Tessier. He has some other things lined up that I’ll let him talk about when he decides to release it.

Kirk Bachmann: Isn’t this great? Philip was on the show as well. I just love what’s happening in California right now. It’s kind of the place to be.

I’ve read, again, two major challenges that you had to tackle – and this is a lot for people who haven’t followed along – but the platter and the theme on the plate. There were ingredients like alligator sausage, lump crab, wild boar, oysters. Can you tell us a little bit about those dishes? Where do you start with the creativity? That’s quite an ensemble.

Stefani De Palma: It is, especially each country. You want to represent your cuisine. Well, American cuisine is a melting pot, so for us it was really trying to hone in on what we wanted to focus on. California ingredients – let’s speak to our regionality [sic], give it a sense of place – and then let’s bring in some of these Southern flavors. We incorporated smoked flavors into the wild boar to highlight some Southern barbecue. We transformed the alligator sausage into the ultimate American snack food, a little corn dog of sorts. We really just want to showcase American cuisine as best we could. That’s really where the creativity came out. How can we keep it very regional, national, and still let the ingredients shine?

Kirk Bachmann: Yeah. I love it. I love it. And then the announcement – gold for Team USA. I get goosebumps just saying it. Can you take us to that moment, Chef? What was running through your mind before you heard the results and after you heard the results? All that work!

Stefani De Palma: For me, this was the most nerve-wracking part. We had practiced over and over. We did the R&D. We did the timed runs, the timed practices. We executed on the day. Standing there waiting for the results? That’s the most nerve-wracking part, but I just remember when USA was called. I heard my dad yelling on the megaphone. I saw them in the crowd. My mom’s bawling. So many tears of joy and excitement from friends and family and mentors that were all there. I think we were all just overwhelmed with emotion. That’s something I’ll remember forever.

Training and the Thrill of Competition

Kirk Bachmann: I just love that, and thank you for sharing that.

To set the stage for anyone who follows: American football is one thing, and basketball and baseball and all that, but when you follow soccer in Europe, it’s a frenzy for every single game. That’s what I think of when I see film of the Bocuse d’Or. Signs and dads on megaphones and moms crying. I can’t imagine how that must have felt, but [you had] very little time to absorb that. Boom! After New Orleans, you have to shift your focus. What’s the time frame from then to Lyon?

Stefani De Palma: It was about six-ish months.

Kirk Bachmann: Unbelievable. Half a year. Again, you’ve probably answered this question a million times, but for our listeners who are not familiar – you’ve just been training like crazy. Now it’s like going from the semi-finals to the finals type of thing. What did training for the finals look like? I’m going to be silly and say it’s the next level of competition, but it’s equally as difficult as just getting there in the first place.

Stefani De Palma: Yeah. Absolutely. This next stage was very much like the first. You start R&D. You try different techniques with proteins, with vegetables, with sauces. But then, also conversations with our designer started. Again, we talk about the vision: how do we transform the vision into the end platter result? A lot of those conversations started with our designers. Special tooling we were going to need.

We did a lot of R&D on vegetable garnishes because in previous years, there’s always been vegetable garnishes on the platter. We had two garnishes that we had ninety percent there. We had chefs come in for tastings and get feedback on them. Lo and behold, two months later, we find out the theme, and there’s no vegetable garnish; it’s a warm fruit garnish that we have to do. We’re like, “Okay, great!” So that part, there’s two sides of it. We feel like we wasted time working on things that never made it, but then there’s also the other side of the coin. We got to get into a rhythm of timing and repetition and skills. We use some things throughout other aspects of the plate and the platter, but those actual two garnishes never made it.

Kirk Bachmann: That clarity is really important. I’m going to use the analogy of the NBA finals. You move from the regional to the semi-finals to the finals. It’s basically the same. The same team. Put the ball in the basket type-of-thing. I guess I didn’t realize – again, silly me – that you’re almost starting from scratch again six months out. It’s not just a continuum. Wow! Wow! Okay.

Stefani De Palma: At that point, too, we were also bringing in more chef advisers. I had chef Erik Anderson come in, and he was protein master. Like we talked about with Dave Beran. He came in for the concept. Brian Lockwood with a lot of intricate fruit and vegetable techniques. Once we found out the theme and the requirements, we got in contact with Evan Funke for a pasta master.

Kirk Bachmann: No way. No way. Wow! Wow! Isn’t that amazing? That’s built over the years.

Stefani De Palma: Oh for sure.

Kirk Bachmann: The Bocuse d’Or’s been thirty years or so that they’ve been doing it. I can’t imagine that kind of collaboration way back then.

Let’s talk about the atmosphere. I wish we had pictures right now. You’re in Lyon. You walk into the space. There are over twenty other countries. There’s a live audience. There’s judges who are from Michelin restaurants. Can you paint that picture better than I can?

Stefani De Palma: Of course. You feel a sense of intimidation, but a lot of these other teams we had met previously. We attended the European qualification, so we had met the other teams. At this point, I really tried to not let the nerves have space in my brain. I didn’t want to overwhelm myself with that. We practiced how we were going to perform. We trained. We were calm and collected. We just wanted to focus on executing what we had practiced doing.

I will say, I was a little star-struck by Chef Clare Smyth. She’s someone I’ve looked up to for a long time, but she was incredibly nice and encouraging.

Kirk Bachmann: Wow! The names just keep coming! My goodness!

This question I’ve been wanting to ask because this resonates so much with the students of the craft or hopeful practitioners of the craft, if you will. You’ve mentioned how impressed you were by the workmanship and professionalism of the other teams. Can you speak about that a little bit? That’s really important.

Stefani De Palma: A competition like this is going to bring out the best in people. We’ve all been training for this for at least a year, if not more. It takes a tremendous amount of dedication and discipline that’s so necessary to compete at this level. If you don’t have these things already instilled in you, you’re not going to be doing this competition. Seeing other chefs who were on this level and had put so much time and effort in, it was really cool.

Kirk Bachmann: Are those relationships that continue after?

Stefani De Palma: Yeah, I’ve kept in contact with some of them.

Kirk Bachmann: Isn’t that great? I just love that.

Again, tough question: reflecting back on the whole process, the different levels, and what you’re giving back as a mentor going forward, from your first day of training to the competition floor, to the announcements, what are you most proud of, Chef?

Stefani De Palma: Most proud of the team we built and how we represented our country with respect, humility and professionalism. At the end of the day, we were so proud of what we accomplished, and we had fun throughout the whole process. We enjoyed it.

Kirk Bachmann: I love it. I knew the humility was going to continue there, deflecting to the team. I absolutely love it. Every team needs a leader, though. Congratulations.

Stefani De Palma: People have asked, “Are you going to do it again?” I think I’ve made peace with the fact that it’s such a cool team. We were all strangers at the beginning of it, and we just worked together so well that I don’t think I would get that same experience.

Kirk Bachmann: The bar is set high, right?

Stefani De Palma: The bar is set very high.

An Inspiring Plan B

Kirk Bachmann: Yeah. I get that. One of the most beautiful, gratifying things that could happen next is you imparting that wisdom on the next team, and so on and so forth.

If we could, let’s rewind the clock back a little bit. You’ve competed at the highest level. You’ve led a Michelin kitchen. Because a lot of students are going to be fascinated by your story, they’re going to want to sign up – we have to reign them in a little bit – our students will want to know how you got there. Your story, Stefani, is not about shortcuts; it’s about commitment. You said it! It’s commitment, it’s learning and growing over time in some of the most – demanding is a tough word – but demanding, high-expectation (probably a better way to say it) environment in the country, in the world.

I’m curious if we can go all the way back to what first sparked your interest in food. Is there a moment? Is there a meal? The name of the show is The Ultimate Dish. We’re going to corner you towards the end about what is the ultimate dish, but I’d love to know about that moment when you knew, “Wow! This is what I’m going to do.”

Stefani De Palma: I grew up in a family that loved to cook and loved to eat good food. Going into this career was actually not my first choice, but in high school I was a teacher’s assistant for the home ec class. The teacher, she brought in a pastry chef from the local culinary school to give a chocolate demonstration. I watched, and this woman was so passionate about her craft. So inspiring.

I went home that night, and I talked to my mom about it, and I said, “What do you think about doing that?” I didn’t get into the two colleges I wanted to, so I was a little bummed. I needed a plan B. That started the conversation. My mom and I went to the orientation that the culinary school had held. We thought about it and said, “Okay. That’s what I’m going to do.”

With culinary school, you’re going to get out of it what you put in. It’s a short program; it’s eighteen months. I did the eighteen months, and here we are.

Kirk Bachmann: It’s intense. I love this conversation. We talked a little bit before we started recording. I was involved with the Cordon Bleu when you were involved with the Cordon Bleu. You went to a really popular big school with unbelievable talent. Your comment about, “you’ll get out of it what you put into it,” it’s very insightful for anyone who’s thinking about culinary school.

But what happens next is really, really impressive. At this time, you’re nineteen. You move to San Diego. You join Addison. It’s probably Southern California’s only three-Michelin-star restaurant at the time, maybe. I think.

Stefani De Palma: It didn’t have the recognition then. It was a new restaurant. It had only been open about a year.

Taking Chances with Addison

Kirk Bachmann: Okay. Okay. It’s still a serious leap. That’s a lot for a nineteen-year-old. It’s a lot for anyone. What gave you the confidence? This is what students need to know. You have, from the beginning of our chat, you’ve pulled your family into it. Your dad’s got the megaphone. You collaborated and consulted with your mom about going to culinary school. I just wanted to point out that I love when young people have a network like that. I don’t care who it is – a friend, a sister, a brother, a mom, a dad, grandfather. I grew up like that. I needed that crutch in many ways. I felt like everything I did was for and part of the family, so bravo for that.

I’m curious what gave you the confidence. Was it family? Were you pretty good? “I can do this.”

Stefani De Palma: To be quite honest, I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I was new to San Diego. At the end of my culinary school, I did an internship in Italy for three months. While I was there, my dad got transferred from Arcadia to San Diego for work. When I moved home, home was now San Diego. Great. Perfect.

I got home, I think, in November. I took December off to spend the holidays, get settled into my new home. My parents said, “January comes around. You’re either going to go to school and get your bachelor’s degree, or you’re going to work full time.”

I said, “Okay,” and I started applying to some places. Addison was on the property of the Grand Del Mar Resort, which had been at a culinary fair at the school. I did recognize it. I had met with someone from HR there. This was a familiar place. I applied there, and I applied to a couple of places. Addison was the first place I interviewed. On the day of my interview, they posted an opening for a pastry position, which I think is where my career will ultimately go – pastry.

When I went for my interview, I said, “I want that job. Take a chance.” And they did. What I came to learn is that pastry positions are quite hard to fill, so they probably snatched me up knowing that this is a pastry person. This is something that we don’t get often. Addison was a fairly new restaurant. It had only been open about a year when I started working there.

Kirk Bachmann: You took a chance and they took a chance.

Stefani De Palma: Exactly.

Kirk Bachmann: Look how that worked out! This is another important aspect of your career that students need to pay attention to. You’ve held nearly every position there is in the kitchen, and eventually you became the chef de cuisine. Where does the patience come from? I’m sure there was a day when you woke up and thought, “I’m really good. What’s next for me?” But you followed the decorum, the professionalism of the kitchen. What was that progression like for you? Were you anxious? Were you patient? All of the above, none of the above?

Stefani De Palma: I was patient, yet ambitious. I put my time in on pastry. I was also very observant of the kitchen, and I tried to involve myself when I had time. When I saw that I had other team members leaving or moving around, shuffling ways, I had a conversation with the leadership team and told them I’d be interested in moving to savory. They thought about it. “Okay, that’s different. Let’s give it a shot.”

I remember Chef William saying, “Start this station like it’s your first day in the kitchen, and absorb everything like a sponge.” That’s what I did throughout the whole time I was there. You’re building on what you’ve learned throughout that kitchen, but also soak in as much information and technique as possible.

Going after the Michelin Stars

Kirk Bachmann: Addison was awarded, I believe, their third start while you were there.

Stefani De Palma: Yeah.

Kirk Bachmann: Which is…this is a lot for one person’s career! This is really informative, our chat today, because we’re talking about the Bocuse d’Or. We’re talking about Michelin. This is a level, for those who aren’t familiar, that is about as high as we can go. I imagine that was a very powerful moment for everyone – from the vendors to the guests to the team at Addison to William, so on and so forth. What did that feel like for you? How long had you been there when that all happened?

Stefani De Palma: Fourteen years. I had been there fourteen years. When Michelin announced that they were going to do a California guide, that was in 2019, the restaurant really shifted the dynamic. Chef’s goal was three stars. I was his right hand. Okay. That’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to do everything we can to transform this restaurant into a three-Michelin-star restaurant. We got the one. We got the two.

Then I was at a point where I was ready to part ways with the restaurant, but I gave Chef a year’s notice. I knew my position was going to be very hard to fill, and I wanted to make sure it gave us plenty of time to prepare who was taking my role. I gave him a year’s notice, and I said, “I have two goals for the year: build a team, and we get the third star.” And we did both.

I remember at that award ceremony, I was with Chef William, Sean McGinness, our maitre d’, Chef’s wife Akira, and we’re also surrounded by friends and mentors and other chefs that we’ve known for years. Watching him accept that award, I was just incredibly proud of him. It was someone I had known for a huge chunk of my adult life. I know how much it took for us to get there. Having everyone around us that we’ve known for years be just as excited as we were – it was a really, really cool moment.

Kirk Bachmann: That’s the closest I’ve come – Noelle will confirm this – to crying on the show over the last five years. I get it. Another lesson. I don’t want to gloss over this. The fact that you had the respect for the team, for the establishment, for the owner, his family, to give a year notice. I’m not suggesting here, students, that you have to always give a year’s notice, but please write that one down.

What did those years, Chef, at Addison teach you about excellence – tough word, big word – about leadership, and maybe even about your identity as a chef?

Stefani De Palma: Yeah. I will always aim to be a chef that leads with respect, hard work, and collaboration. Food aside, Chef taught me a ton about flavors and building your palate and refinement, but I will always try to lead by example and stay humble.

Taking the Time for Health

Kirk Bachmann: Well said. You’ve accomplished so much already in your life. We’re going to talk a little bit about the wisdom that you’re giving back here. Running a world-class kitchen to competing on the highest global stage that there is. I always like to chat with folks that we chat with about looking forward and outward to the generation that’s coming up right behind you.

After this beautiful chapter with the Bocuse: is there a book coming? What are we thinking about next? Are you dreaming up the next stage of your life and that sort of thing?

Stefani De Palma: I’ve had two back-to-back, very intense chapters: pushing for a third Michelin star and then going into the Bocuse d’Or. At this point, I’m taking a little breather.

I have a general idea of what I’ll eventually do, but really I’m just enjoying life and a little downtime, and having a balance. Being with family and friends that I haven’t neglected, but I haven’t had much time with. I’m really just trying to have that healthy balance.

Kirk Bachmann: I’m going off script again. It’s funny how all these conversations always go with chefs in particular. We always end up talking about music a little bit, or we talk about motorcycles, or both. Are either of those in your life? Are you a music fan? Do you ride a motorcycle?

Stefani De Palma: I don’t ride a motorcycle. I have test-driven an electric motorcycle once. I went about five miles an hour, but it’s not something I do on the regular.

Music, yes. Yoga. Walking my dog. She’s old now, so she doesn’t walk too far, but she makes it.

Kirk Bachmann: You mention yoga, and you mentioned Lachlan of Frasca here in Boulder. His partner, Bobby Stuckey here, they do a lovely job. They’re amazing. They hire our students. They’re incredible people, and they sit on our board.

It’s funny: the day or maybe the week that they got their first star, I was in there talking to one of the general managers. We got down this path of talking about how beautiful it is to work in Boulder, that they’re very health-centric. What they have to share with chefs around the world that they may have to share with chefs in New York, or Philly, or Chicago, or really, really busy places where it’s hard to find a minute to yourself to practice yoga. Bobby runs every day. He runs like a 10K every day. It’s really, really important to them.

Again, I’m off script, but how important is taking care of yourself and exercise and eating right, that sort of thing, to be sustainable for the long-term in this business?

Stefani De Palma: It’s huge. Even during training for the Bocuse d’Or, I didn’t drink alcohol the whole time I was training. I needed to keep my body healthy. I didn’t get sick at all. It was really important for me to keep my physical body as healthy as I could so that mentally I could be ready for every day. Because by the time December came, we were doing a timed run every other day. Your timed run is five and a half hours, but then you have two hours of set up, an hour of breakdown. Doing that every other day is very wearing on the body, so keeping ourselves as healthy as possible, that’s huge. The older you get, the harder it gets.

The Process Behind the Scenes

Kirk Bachmann: Coming back to all the preparation – and that’s the pastry chef in you. You’re linear, you’re very organized. What people don’t think about is [how] you just said five, five and a half hours a day of a timed run. There’s so much that goes into that. You have to have the equipment ready to go. The ingredients have to be perfect and ready to go. Is that everything? Do you start your mise then?

Stefani De Palma: You’re allowed to have pretty much everything scaled, so measured out. We would have kits. This is everything for this chicken mousse minus the protein because you have to prep that on site. You would have everything scaled and measured and ready. That takes a huge amount of time. One of our chefs de partie that was her job. She was scaling everything.

One of our other chefs de partie, Carson, he was setting up all the equipment. Then you have our sous chef for the team, Jakub, he was helping with R&D, so if something went wrong during the run – “this didn’t turn out right” – he’d turn around and make it on the side to see what happened, troubleshoot. There’s a huge amount that goes on behind the scenes to actually get to the point of execution.

Kirk Bachmann: That’s a huge commitment from a lot of people. My mind is just going a hundred miles an hour now. For that period of time leading up to the competition, you can’t even take a break because if you decided, “I’m going to slip over to Hawaii for ten days,” you lose momentum.

Stefani De Palma: Yeah. We took a break after New Orleans to reset. Then also to bring the rest of our team members on. Jakub and then our competition manager, Amanda, they started after New Orleans. Bringing them on: Jakub was helping with R&D. Amanda was helping with a lot of the coordination. She’s ten times more organized than I am, which is such a blessing for me. Bringing those people on for Lyon was so necessary, and that gave us time to find those right people in that little reset period.

Special Diets and Big Competitions

Kirk Bachmann: I told my wife this morning. She knows that I usually have an interview every single week. She was asking about it today. She was trained as a chef as well; she does some private cheffing. She wanted me to ask if different food intolerances or gluten free, thoughtfulness, or any of those hot topics of today find their way into competition at that level these days. Sorry, that wasn’t on the script either.

Stefani De Palma: No, it’s okay. Matt Peters, when he won gold in 2017, their theme on plate was a vegan dish.

Kirk Bachmann: I remember that.

Stefani De Palma: For us, the fruit garnish had to not have any dairy in it. I think that was the only restriction because team presidents who end up being the judges, they have to be able to eat everything. I’m actually vegetarian. I would taste everything; I wouldn’t consume it. My personal preference doesn’t get in the way of my training, the R&D, and the execution. As a judge, you have to be able to eat everything.

I think the vegan dish for Matt’s year was the biggest one if I remember right.

Opportunity, Mindset, and Success

Kirk Bachmann: That’s a great response. I love that.

If you had to – and this is such a tough question. It’s kind of a cliché question. For those who are new to the industry…for Escoffier, we went online around 2016, 2017, so it provided a lot of opportunity for folks that wouldn’t be able to travel across the country to a ground campus or move away from their families for extended periods of time. Our students range from 19 to 50. Is there any advice, knowing what you’ve been through – because you’ve been through a lot. You’ve put yourself through a lot. If I had 600 students in front of you on a Zoom right now, is there a podium of advice that you would give to them?

Stefani De Palma: I would tell them that I think it’s natural to feel intimidated when you’re trying something new. I still do. Treat a new kitchen not as a challenge but as an opportunity. You’ll only know how it’s going to end if you try, and you’ll only get out of it what you put in.

Kirk Bachmann: Taking that a step further, Stefani, to the idea of mindset, what should a student or a new practitioner to the craft focus on? The word mastering is tough. Let’s just say competency. What should a student going into the industry really focus on first from a competency, purely skills? What should they focus on first?

Stefani De Palma: I think the most important thing for anyone is a positive attitude because you can’t teach that. If you go in there with a positive attitude, you can learn everything else. If we’re talking skills, master the basics first. Keep your knife sharp. Work on your precision. Beat-in technique is going to come over time. Don’t be afraid to ask for help because the better you are, the better your team’s going to be.

Kirk Bachmann: You know what I love about that answer is, again, you’re prepared. You have a narrative. You’ve found your voice in this business, and that’s so, so, so important. I know that you have some very much-deserved time to pause right now. I’m curious: having found success on a very, very high level, so I’m curious: what does success look like next? Have you raised the bar? Has the definition of success really changed for you?

Stefani De Palma: I think success is going to look different to everyone, but for me it’s: can you look back on what you’ve accomplished and be proud of how you got there. Did you do it with respect and professionalism and humility? Did you value others, and did you enjoy the process?

Chef Stefani De Palma’s Ultimate Dish

Kirk Bachmann: Brilliant. We got to our limit very quickly there even with me going off script. Before I let you go, the name of the show is The Ultimate Dish. I’m on the edge of my seat for this answer, but in your mind, in your travels, in your competitions, in your experience, Chef, what is the ultimate dish?

Stefani De Palma: I’m going to give a little shout out to one of my favorite restaurants in San Diego, Tribute Pizza. My ultimate dish is vanilla bean soft serve ice cream with olive oil and sea salt.

Kirk Bachmann: Totally not expecting that one! Absolutely! I can taste it. I love it. I love it.

Stefani De Palma: I could eat it every day.

Kirk Bachmann: Noelle just said, “My favorite pizza place.” She’s in San Diego. Oh my gosh! That’s absolutely fabulous. Maybe we’ll do a hashtag for them. That would be nice.

Wow! This was so much fun, Stefani. Chef, thank you. Much continued success. The whole time I’ve been taking notes here. If you’re ever interested, if you ever want to get in front of a bunch of students and a live webinar format, I would love to arrange that for you.

Stefani De Palma: I’d be happy to.

Kirk Bachmann: I think that would be a lot of fun. Congratulations! You’re an amazing professional. Please stay in touch. Thanks for joining us today.

Stefani De Palma: Thank you so much.

Kirk Bachmann: Thank you for listening to the Ultimate Dish podcast, brought to you by Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts. Visit escoffier.edu/podcast to find any materials mentioned during the podcast, including notes, links and other resources. And if you can, please leave us a rating on Apple or Spotify, and subscribe to support our show. This helps us reach more aspiring individuals ready to take the next step toward their dream careers. Thanks for listening.