Scott Fausz, Executive Pastry Chef, The Hotel Alyeska in Girdwood, Alaska
Scott Fausz, the executive pastry chef at The Hotel Alyeska in Girdwood, Alaska, goes to work every day on the edge of the Alaskan wilderness, surrounded by a lush valley and jagged, snowy peaks.
The Alyeska is Alaska’s premier year-round resort with seven restaurants and multiple banquet facilities. Its crown jewel is Seven Glaciers, a AAA Four Diamond restaurant where guests arrive via an aerial tram and sit 2,300 feet above sea level with panoramic views of hanging glaciers and the Cook Inlet.
Fausz’s challenge is designing dessert menus not just for Seven Glaciers but for the many restaurants inside the hotel including Sakura Asian Bistro, Aurora Bar and Grille, The Pond Steakhouse and others.
He works collaboratively with the executive chef as well as each restaurant’s chef de cuisine, trying at all locations to emphasize locally available goods and produce, seafood and game.
“My personal goal is to create desserts and pastry components [that] are seasonal in their essence, but which also represent a variety of textures and include a rounded palate of flavors [and] are not overly sweet,” Fausz says.
Fausz’ pastry essentials include 12 Perfect Puree flavors like his current favorites Pear Puree, Blackberry Puree, and Yuzu Luxe Sour blend. During the holiday season, Fausz served a Bûche de Noël, or Yule Log, with Pear Gingerbread Mousse.
“The quality of Perfect Purée is top notch and is showcased via the ripe and pure flavor as well as the true color of each product. Moreover, I find the package size to be highly convenient, and the assortment of flavors very interesting,” he says.
Fausz arrived at the Hotel Alyeska from steamy Los Angeles. He had been focused on relocating to Istanbul when a former co-worker suggested he apply for the pastry chef position at The Hotel Alyeska.
“During my interview, I fell in love not only with the property, but with its unbelievable location inside a valley surrounded by glaciers,” Fausz says.
Fausz grew up in rural Missouri, where he made jams, pickles, pies, cakes, and dumplings with his grandmothers and learned an appreciation for well-crafted food.
As a teenage exchange student in Germany, his affinity for cakes, confections, cheese, and charcuterie grew. He was further inspired by travels to Russia, Brazil, England, France, Turkey, and Morocco.
Fausz received an associate’s degree in culinary arts from Scottsdale Community College and a bachelor’s degree in hospitality management from Le Cordon Bleu.
He worked as the executive pastry chef for Missouri’s largest winery, Crown Valley, and as a banquet pastry supervisor for the J.W. Marriott Desert Ridge in Phoenix. Arizona. While in Arizona, Fausz received several Best of Phoenix awards as executive pastry chef of Pierre’s Pastry Cafe and assistant pastry chef of Pastry Maxine, both in Scottsdale.
Scott later became a chef instructor for Le Cordon Bleu in Scottsdale, Hollywood, Pasadena, and San Francisco.
During his time in culinary education, Fausz also worked as a pastry expert helping cast the CBS reality show, “The American Baking Competition.”
Fausz never tires of Alaska’s breathtaking beauty but took an extended vacation to France last year and says his “Plan B” career involves splitting time between a small dairy goat farm in Normandy and cooking for Katy Perry.