Who The Folk?! Zoe Moskowitz

What’s it like to be “insatiably curious?” Pastry chef Zoe Moskowitz uses that self-describer as she takes to take a different look at how she works as a pastry cook. We talk about her move to Minneapolis last year, how the restaurant industry is in her blood, and how her favorite Jewish prayer became the inspiration for a dish, on this week’s Who The Folk?! Podcast.

You can read an excerpt below, but for the whole interview (which you are really going to want to hear), please listen or subscribe to the Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Stitcher, with more to come later soon. Please subscribe, rate, and review. Check out the show page where you can catch up on previous episodes. And of course, if you have suggestions of others who would be great subjects, let us know!

What brought you to Spoon and Stable and how did you get your start there?

It’s actually the other way around in that Spoon and Stable is what brought me to Minneapolis. So about this time a year ago was kind of an interesting time in my life. I needed a senior internship to graduate and I had two job interviews in San Francisco, both of which ended up falling through. It was pretty devastating. I messaged with my chefs and I said, ‘I need help. Like, I need to go somewhere in two weeks and I need some help.’ And one of my chefs said, ‘You had mentioned Spoon and Stable and said that this is a restaurant you were really interested in. I’m friends with Gavin, let’s pull some strings. Let’s see if we can get you out there.’ So we he works his magic, and I got an email and phone interview later and now we’re here. And I it was an absolute blessing in disguise.”

It’s quite a place to get to start your career.

Not to toot my own horn …

No. Toot. This is what you’re here for!

I made it a point to look for the best places that I could work for. Any chance that I got to move – I worked in DC for a little while I did my first internship at one of the best restaurants in Providence. I’m always looking for the best in whatever’s next, always looking to work at the best restaurants always work with the best chefs and that was really a goal of mine. So working at Spoon and Stable is absolutely part of that.

Does knowing all of the other stuff, the culinary side, the business side, the kitchen design side, does that make you a better pastry chef?

Oh, absolutely. I think the industry right now is leaning towards more dynamic in the kitchen. The pastry teams are working with the savory teams and the savory teams are working with the pastry teams so much more now. On things like bread, like bread is savory, but also made by pastry chefs. You know, like, there’s some. There are some interesting ways in which they can overlap and where we can all learn from each other. And I particularly love savory sweets, so I like including something a little bit more savory in a sweet like white miso in a cookie, or tahini. Like the salty-sweet? I love that. I love that I love a good sundae where it’s got hot and cold and salty and sweet. All of that in it. I think my savory background makes me a better pastry chef because of that and I know more ingredients. Again, not to toot my own horn I’ve been exposed to some ingredients. that’s the savory people use that I can be like, ‘oh, maybe we could do that in a desert or maybe I could use that in an ice cream’ or something like that.