It’s Good to Be Queen: Judy Marts
The first time I met Judy Marts, she was up to her elbows in hot dishwater. Perhaps not what you’d expect from the executive pastry chef at Austin’s Four Seasons Hotel. But Marts, along with Executive Chef Elmar Prambs and other staffers, had taken time off from the hectic hotel schedule to prepare and serve lunch at the Caritas Community Kitchen.
An unassuming person who brooks no nonsense, Marts has been in her Austin position only since November, when she succeeded longtime pastry chef Tony Sansalone (who left to open his own bakery). However, the job is something of a homecoming for Marts: Early in her culinary career, she worked in the kitchen as an entry-level pastry cook.
A San Antonio native with a degree in home-ec education from UT-Austin, Marts’ first career was in finance. She worked for many years as a secondary market processor at the San Antonio Savings Association. However, the demise of the savings and loan industry in the late 1980s caused her to rethink career options.
“I’d enjoyed cooking since I was 9,” she remembers. “I always was the person in the office who made the birthday cakes and holiday cookies. Once I realized that the savings and loan industry was really going away, I wanted a new career where I’d never have to wear pantyhose again.
“Although I’d never even toured the back of a professional bakery, I started looking for culinary schools where I could study baking, and there weren’t that many in those days. Somehow, I was just never interested in the hot side of the kitchen.”
Marts went to Baltimore International Culinary College (now Baltimore International College) for an associate’s degree in baking and pastry. She recalls that most of her classmates were 10 to 15 years younger than she, and she identified more with the instructors. “Because I was older and had gone through student teaching myself, I had a different appreciation of the teachers. I’m still good friends with my very first pastry chef.”
Marts returned to San Antonio in 1991 to work at Le Bistro bakery and restaurant. “The baking kitchen was 10 feet square, and I made French-style pastries. I started work every day at 4am. Except for school, this was my first experience on the other side of the pastry case.
“Meanwhile, I was sending letters to hotels all over the country. Amazingly, after one phone interview, the Atlanta Ritz-Carlton hired me as an entry-level pastry cook. I spent 18 months there, where I learned how to manage quantities for 300 to 500 guests. We did the desserts for the hotel restaurants, the afternoon teas, the meetings, and the banquets. I didn’t have to worry about things like scheduling and food costs. I just focused on learning how to bake.”
Marts missed Texas, however, and the Ritz-Carleton sous chef knew chef Prambs at the Austin Four Seasons. A phone call later, she was hired. “I started in 1993. Richard Winemiller [now chef-instructor at Bowie High School’s culinary program] was the pastry chef. I began by making the cakes, pies, and cookie mixes.
“I learned from chef Richard during the day, and at night I was the only pastry person. I plated desserts for the banquets, and I learned how to multitask and manage large production batches. My job was to keep the pastry freezer stocked with the basics used to build the chef’s recipes.
“Chef Elmar is a totally hands-on executive chef,” Marts continues, “very different from my Ritz-Carlton experience. I had great respect for him from the minute I started working there, and he taught me so much. He doesn’t ask anyone to do anything he doesn’t do himself.”
Eventually, Marts was promoted to assistant pastry chef and, for a time, served as acting pastry chef. In 2000, however, opportunity knocked. “I wasn’t looking for a job, but the company asked me to go to Hawaii to help open the new Four Seasons Hualalai Resort on the Big Island,” Marts says. “I couldn’t say no.”
Marts stayed at Hualalai for three years. “At first, I was freaked out being in the middle of the ocean, but I learned to appreciate island life. It was so different from anywhere I’d been, and I had to learn about ‘island time.’ I used all kinds of exotic fruits that I hadn’t even heard of, such as rambutan and dragon fruit, and I got good with local ingredients like fresh coconut and pineapple.”
When Four Seasons opened a resort in Jackson Hole, Wyo., in 2003, Marts was interested in that part of the country and, she says, “I wanted to go to a not-city kind of place. The GM at Jackson was from Austin, and he hired me. I helped open the property, and it was quite an experience. The food-and-beverage administrator was a great educator, and I learned a lot about administration.”
After she spent a year in Jackson Hole, chef Prambs asked Marts to come back to Austin. “It was really hard to leave Wyoming,” she says, “and if it had been anywhere except Austin, I wouldn’t have gone. But Texas is my home.”
What’s different at the Four Seasons this time around? Marts laughs. “Well, for one thing, I’m in charge of the pastry kitchen now. And the Four Seasons is 10 times as busy as it was in ’99. The cafe and the hotel have just gotten better and better, just as the city has gotten better. I still feel new here; it’s only been a few months, so I still worry and I’m still learning this position. My people are so capable, though. I have a great team. We have fun and we laugh a lot together.”
Regarding current food trends, Marts observes, “I see a lot of things coming back to basics in pastry. And there’s definite interest in more rustic desserts, although we still showcase them in high-end presentations. People are craving traditional flavors – apple pies, apple tarts, bread puddings – anything called cobbler just flies out of this kitchen. But still, guests like classic restaurant desserts that they won’t do at home, like molten chocolate cakes and soufflés.”
Reflecting on her executive role, Marts says, “I really enjoy the training part of my job, but I don’t have much tolerance for the discipline part. I have a strong work ethic, and I expect the same from my staff.
“Most days, it’s good to be queen; other times, I’d just like to bake. I still love getting down and dirty with the baking, and I love wearing the uniform. No pantyhose!” – MM Pack
This article appears in April 8 • 2005.
