Isabel Coss
Isabel Coss | |
|---|---|
| Born | Mexico City, Mexico |
| Culinary career | |
Current restaurant(s)
| |
Awards won
| |
Isabel Coss is a Mexican pastry chef best known for her work as head pastry chef at Lutèce and co-founder and pastry chef at Pascual. Her work focuses on Mexican pastries and desserts. She was named a Best New Chef by Food and Wine in 2023, and was a semifinalist for a James Beard award.
Biography
[edit]Coss was born and raised in Mexico City. She first wanted to be a film director, and trained in ballet.[1] However, she ultimately decided to become a chef, beginning as a bread maker at Pujol, and in 2011, moved to New York. Her goal was to attend the Culinary Institute of America, but due to price, she decided to gain hands-on experience instead.[2] She worked as a pastry chef at Empellon,[3] where she met her husband,[4] and also worked at Agern.[5]
After receiving a job offer from a friend at a New Year's party,[5] she worked as a pastry chef under Daniela Soto-Innes, a fellow former Pujol employee, at Cosme. During this time, Soto-Innes was named World's Best Female Chef, and Coss was seen as a key member of the team behind her.[3] She was named a Rising Pastry Chef by StarChefs in 2019.[6]
In December 2020, she left Cosme to join her husband, Matt Conroy, a fellow chef, at Lutèce. At the start, the restaurant was understaffed and Coss found herself doing many different jobs, but by 2022, the work had evened out and Coss began dedicating herself to Mexican pastries. In 2023, she was named a Best New Chef by Food & Wine.[5]
In February 2024, while staying at Lutèce,[7] she opened a Mexican restaurant, Pascual, together with her husband, which "pays homage to the buzz of life in Mexico City". One of the most popular dishes there utilizes huitlacoche as a reference to her grandfather, who farmed corn and enjoyed huitlacoche.[2] Much of the food is cooked in a hearth oven,[8] and the menu changes seasonally.[9] The restaurant received a positive review from The Washington Post and was named 42nd Best Restaurant in North America by The World's 50 Best Restaurants.[10][9]
She also opened daytime coffee and pastry shop Volcan inside the same location as Pascual.[11] She stepped down as head pastry chef at Lutèce in 2025 to focus on Pascual.[12] In 2025, she was named to the James Beard Foundation Taste America series.[13] In 2026, her husband and her were co-awarded a Rammy Award for Chef of the Year.[14]
She has also studied how to make ice cream, taking a class at Penn State.[1]
Food & Wine described her desserts as food with a "playful outlook" where "nothing is quite what it seems", for example white chocolate fig leaf Canelé and sorbet surrounded with gelatin cubes.[5] Her signature is a honeycomb semifreddo.[2] Another notable dish she's made is a savory mille-feuille made from mole, plantain, sweet cream, and caviar.[15]
References
[edit]- 1 2 Gelman, Scott (2023-09-30). "How a DC woman went from aspiring film director to award-winning pastry chef". WTOP News. Retrieved 2026-08-05.
- 1 2 3 White, Taryn. "Chef Spotlight: Spicing Up The Capital With Chef Isabel Coss". Forbes. Retrieved 2026-08-05.
- 1 2 Price, Laura (2019-04-25). "Eight tortilla ladies, a pastry master and 'Beyoncé': meet the team behind the World's Best Female Chef". www.theworlds50best.com. Retrieved 2026-08-05.
- ↑ "How Isabel Coss and Matt Conroy Built a Life—and Restaurant—Together | Fine Dining Lovers". www.finedininglovers.com. Retrieved 2026-08-05.
- 1 2 3 4 Shah, Khushbu (September 12, 2023). "Isabel Coss Wants to Champion the Art of Mexican Pastry in America". Food & Wine.
- ↑ "StarChefs - 2019 New York Rising Stars Awards". StarChefs. Retrieved 2026-08-05.
- ↑ Veitch, Mara (2024-02-27). "Isabel Coss, one of DC's Buzziest Chefs, Reveals the City's Best-Kept Secrets—From Late-Night Wine Bars to the Best Crispy Pig Ears in Town". Cultured Mag. Retrieved 2026-08-05.
- ↑ Cobe, Patricia. "How Isabel Coss rose from bread baker to become executive chef at Washington, D.C.'s Pascual". Restaurant Business. Retrieved 2026-08-05.
- 1 2 Simpson, Olivia. "Pascual | North America's 50 Best Restaurants 2026 | North America's 50 Best Restaurants". www.theworlds50best.com. Retrieved 2026-08-05.
- ↑ "Pascual raises the bar for Mexican food in DC". The Washington Post. April 12, 2024.
- ↑ Spiegel, Anna (2023-09-13). "D.C.'s Isabel Coss is a Food & Wine "Best New Chef in America"". Axios. Retrieved 2026-08-05.
- ↑ Venezky, Emily (2025-04-24). "Lutèce's Legendary Pastry Program Has a New Chef at Its Helm". Eater DC. Retrieved 2026-08-05.
- ↑ "TasteTwenty Chefs Isabel Coss and Matt Conroy's D.C. Dining Guide". www.jamesbeard.org. Retrieved 2026-08-05.
- ↑ Plumb, Tierney (2026-06-30). "Here Are the 2026 Rammy Awards Winners". Eater DC. Retrieved 2026-08-05.
- ↑ "A Dessert That's 'a Product of Modern Hedonism'". The New York Times. 2025-12-06. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-08-05.