Not unlike many other graduating seniors, Emily Underhill Luchetti ’79 pondered one question in particular as her commencement approached: what exactly am I going to do with my Denison degree? The answer was not immediately clear. Originally from Corning, New York, the sociology major moved to New York City with the goal of “finding a job to pay the rent.” A classified listing in The New York Times with the heading “No Typing Required” caught her eye and Emily soon found herself working in an executive dining room near Wall Street. She had developed a love for food at Denison, when she would often cook for friends and roommates. And in the post-grad penny-pinching days, Luchetti threw dinner parties for friends and charged ten dollars a head for the chance to experiment with ingredients and recipes, presenting a home-cooked meal in return. Originally, Luchetti considered her work in the executive dining room to be temporary, “until she could find something more professional to do.”
But as more and more of her Denison friends were starting careers in business and law, not because they loved them, but for the income they provided, Luchetti felt she needed to stick with what she loved. She attended The New York Restaurant School, and then moved to San Francisco to take a job in Stars Restaurant when it opened in 1984. Starting out in the main kitchen, Emily eyed the pastry department longingly until a colleague’s maternity leave allowed her to become pastry chef in 1987. Ten years later she took on her current role as the executive pastry chef at San Francisco’s Farallon Restaurant.
In that time, Luchetti has risen to the ranks of stardom in the land of sugar and spice . Named the 2004 James Beard Foundation Pastry Chef of the Year, she has authored four dessert cookbooks. Her latest one, A Passion for Ice Cream (Chronicle Books 2006), higlights her favorite frozen treat, ice cream, which she says “has so many flavor possibilities” and when homemade, the creamy, soft taste is unbelievable. Most recently, Luchetti was invited to participate in the 7th Annual World Gourmet Festival, which took place this September at the Four Seasons Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand, where the globe’s most renowned chefs came together to practice and discuss their art of creating fine cuisine. In her own class, Emily made walnut cake with Moscato d’Asti sabayon, milk chocolate towers and coffee meringues over coconut ice cream. She likes to focus on intense flavors, while keeping the dessert’s light quality in mind. “Dessert should give you comfort and trigger an emotional response,” Luchetti says. Judging from the glowing reviews her uncomplicated, home-style creations have received, they’re sure to elicit at least one consistent response: more, please!