Christina Tosi (born 1981) is an American chef, author, and television personality. She is the chef, founder, and owner of Momofuku Milk Bar, the sister bakery to the Momofuku restaurant group, with fourteen retail outlets throughout North America. By 2012, Milk Bar had grown from one retail sales location in the East Village of Manhattan to five retail outlets in New York City and one location that opened in Toronto, Canada, in 2013 with all retail locations being supplied from a central bakery located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. A seventh location opened in Washington, D.C. in October 2015. In February 2016, it was announced that an eighth location was planned to open at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas in Nevada. The Las Vegas Milk Bar opened in December 2016. A second Washington D.C. location opened at the newly renovated waterfront Wharf complex in February 2018.
Tosi is also a cookbook author . She joined the judging panel of MasterChef on Fox beginning with its sixth season, which premiered 20 May 2015, and the fourth season of MasterChef Junior, which premiered 6 November 2015. In April 2018, an episode of Chef's Table: Pastry featuring Tosi debuted on Netflix.
Video Christina Tosi
Background
Tosi was born in Ohio and raised primarily in Springfield, Virginia to an agricultural economist father of Italian origin and to an accountant mother. After studying to become an electrical engineer for a year at the University of Virginia, she spent time in Florence, Tuscany, Italy, to see if she wanted to be a translator. Eventually, she graduated from James Madison University. After graduating, she moved to New York and enrolled in the French Culinary Institute's pastry arts program. Her first jobs in the kitchens of New York were at Bouley and wd~50. On July 30, 2016, Tosi married New York City-based restaurateur Will Guidara.
Maps Christina Tosi
Early career
David Chang, the owner of Momofuku, originally employed Tosi to write his food safety plans and help administratively with the NYC Department of Health. Chang was so impressed with Tosi that he hired her to run their pastry program . There were no desserts on the menu when she came on board. It was from there that Milk Bar was born. When Momofuku Ssam Bar's adjoining next store space became available, Chang encouraged Tosi to open her own shop, which she named Milk Bar. In a Bloomberg article, Tosi describes Chang as "a great adviser and shareholder" in the Milk Bar.
Media personality
In 2015, Tosi was asked to serve on the judging panel for the Fox reality TV cooking competition shows MasterChef and MasterChef Junior. She appeared in a television ad for Subaru in 2014. She also did promotional work for American Express, Kellogg's, and Estée Lauder.
Critical reviews of her cookbooks
Momofuku Milk Bar, Tosi's first book, was published by Clarkson Potter in October 2011. This book mostly contains recipes of the desserts that are sold at Momofuku Milk Bar.
Many reviewers praised her first book. Lisa Messinger wrote, "Tosi is a talented new voice you want whispering in your ear as you bake."
Although reviewers praised the sweet concoctions that were included in the first book, one reviewer wrote that because the book is not written for the home cook, she found it very demanding to prepare the recipes since they are not tested for use in a home kitchen, some of the ingredients are not easy to obtain (glucose, gelatin and freeze-dried corn powder were mentioned), preparation of some needed intermediate ingredients are quite laborious and many home ovens do not operate in the same way as a commercial oven. Measurements used in the book are both by weight, as preferred by professional cooks, as well as by volume, as usually preferred by amateur cooks and popular food magazines. A reviewer for the Austin Chronicle wrote that preparation of some of the recipes was "a massive pain" to prepare due to the fact that there were many "sub-recipes" to be prepared before making the main item.
Milk Bar Life, Tosi's second book, was published by Random House in April 2015. This book contains recipes for dishes, some savory, that the author and other chefs may prepare for themselves and friends during their off hours.
In contrast, a reviewer of the second book, Milk Bar Life, liked it better since it included recipes for more savory dishes, uses easier-to-obtain ingredients, and appears to be more geared to the home cook than the first book.
Jenny Rosenstrach of the New York Times Book Review wrote of her second book, "It's impossible not to be charmed by the chatty Tosi and her hot pink and bubble-letter-filled never-never land..." The book includes tips like making your own Lambrusco using red wine in a Sodastream.
Other business ventures
In 2012, Tosi began marketing cookie mixes through Williams-Sonoma stores. The cookie mix venture was replaced in 2015 by an exclusive distribution deal with Target.
Bibliography
- Tosi, Christina; McBroom, Courtney (2011). Momofuku Milk Bar. New York: Clarkson Potter. ISBN 978-0-30772-049-8. OCLC 701017680.
- Tosi, Christina; McBroom, Courtney (2015). Milk Bar Life. Random House. ISBN 978-0-77043-510-3. OCLC 894128623.
Awards
- 2012 recipient of the James Beard Rising Star Chef award
- Finalist for the 2014 Outstanding Pastry James Beard award for rising star chefs.
- 2015 recipient of the James Beard Outstanding Pastry Chef award
- In 2016, Crain's New York Business included Tosi in their annual list of the top 40 business persons working in New York City who are under the age of 40.
Featured publications
Christina Tosi has been featured in a variety of national publications:
- In April 2015, Tosi was featured on an episode of Conan making sweet desserts with leftover candy and a hammer.
- Tosi was featured on a list of "Most Innovative Women in Food and Drink" by Food and Wine Magazine in 2014.
- Tosi was featured by Glamour in 2014 in "The Power of Taking Risks and the Magic Behind Momofuku Milk Bar".
- Tosi has been featured multiple times by the Wall Street Journal.
- Tosi has been featured multiple times by The New York Times.
References
External links
- Christina Tosi on IMDb
Source of article : Wikipedia
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