Katherine Thompson

Pastry Chef, L'Artusi

Katherine Thompson grew up outside of Washington, DC, where she says she became obsessed with food after receiving Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" at age 12. But it was business, not culinary studies, that she studied at The College of William & Mary in Virginia. After leaving a job in the hi-tech industry in Seattle because she hated it, Thompson returned to her true love, cooking, and in 2004 graduated from the Culinary Institute of America.

Thompson went to work as a kitchen server at Per Se, but what she really missed was cooking, so she accepted a job as chef at Italian Wine Merchants, where she spent almost two years cooking for private dining and events. This is also where she met Joe Campanale, who she would later team up with at dell'anima. Thompson worked a couple of other jobs before ending up at dell'anima however, including pastry chef at Del Posto, chef at New York Wine Company in TriBeCa, and pastry sous chef at Brasserie 44.

Thompson, who is married to dell'anima and L'Artusi executive chef Gabriel Thompson, serves as pastry chef at both restaurants. She likes the technical and precise production of desserts, and this is evident from her menu at L'Artusi, which includes Italian classics like Baba Rum and Walnut Torta. Thompson's desserts will change with the seasons, but will always remain, as she says, "rustic and homey-tasting."