Gala Chef Q & A: JBF Award Winner Christina Tosi

JBF Award Winner Christina Tosi, Momofuku Milk Bar, NYC

What are your go-to guilty-pleasure foods?

Nachos and cookie dough.

What’s your favorite movie, and why?

Desk Set. Katharine Hepburn has such wit, such intelligence, but is still a silly gal. I love the enthusiasm, charm, and pace of the movie.

Describe the last great meal you ate.

I just had dinner at St. Anselm in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. We ordered nearly everything on the menu and died for it all.

What’s your earliest food memory?

Grilled cheese and tomato soup.

What’s the dish you’re most proud of?

Cereal milk panna cotta with avocado purée, chocolate-hazelnut, and cornflake crunch. And the fried apple pie with miso butterscotch and sour ice cream. I created them simultaneously as we were about to open Momofuku Ko. Even today I look back and think I really found my voice as a chef in both.

What was your first job in the culinary world?

I worked as a server in Harrisonburg, Virginia, at Calhoun’s. I loved the restaurant industry so much, I begged to come in early in the mornings as a prep cook because all I wanted to do was be in the kitchen.

What movie are you ashamed to admit you love?

Point Break! So cheesy, so good!

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

Just be yourself (from my mom).