Executive Pastry Chef Kate Milashus:
A Rising Chicago-area Star

“Use only the best. Chocolate showcases itself.”

Kate Milashus, executive pastry chef for F&F Realty, which operates popular Chicago-area restaurants including Dine, Birch River Grill, Ada’s Famous Deli & Restaurant and Karma, is known for her creative desserts, like the Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake (recipe) that pairs a seasonal favorite flavor with the timeless flavor of chocolate.

Chef Milashus came by her appreciation of chocolate early. “I grew up in a Polish household and most of the food I grew up on came from European bakeries and grocery stores,” she says. “My grandmother would sometimes get us candy. My favorite was, and still is, a chocolate covered dried plum. It was a real plum, not a prune, and was covered in bittersweet chocolate. Chocolate and fruit is still a favorite combination of mine.” And bittersweet chocolate is still her in baking.

“It’s not cloyingly sweet and it has a perfectly balanced flavor. Medical studies prove it’s good for you, too!”

Now that she is a successful professional chef, her chocolate philosophy is “Use only the best. Chocolate showcases itself.”

Chicago Sun-Times food critic Pat Bruno says of Milashus: “Desserts were better than wonderful. Kate Milashus really knows how to strut her sweets.” Centerstage Chicago recently said, “Her desserts are simply astounding.”

Milashus moved with her mother, sister and grandmother to Cicero, IL from Poland when she was two years old. While growing up, she says, “My grandmother was my inspiration. She made everything from scratch.” As young as six, Milashus discovered a real attraction to cooking and frequently assisted her family in the kitchen and observed the art of creating a meal.

In junior high, she says, “I would rush home and watch Julia Child and Jeff Smith and the other cooking shows on Channel 11.” Around this time, Milashus began to focus on creating pastries and remembers pouring through her mother’s cookbooks, looking for recipes with which to experiment. She also participated in the cooking of family meals, holiday dishes and treats. “These kinds of things just stuck with me. I remember cooking whatever my mother would buy.”

After graduating from DePaul University in 1997 with a degree in sociology, Milashus discovered that her education did not guarantee the goals she set for herself. “I thought I would be traveling to different countries and learning about different cultures and that appealed to me. One aspect I didn’t take into consideration is the rugged travel and I’m not a rugged kind of person.”

Knowing she needed to consider a different career path, Milashus decided to pursue her passion for cooking. In 2002, she enrolled at the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago where she earned an A.A.S. degree in baking and patisserie arts and became Le Cordon Bleu affiliated. Since the completion of her degree, Milashus has enjoyed cooking pastries all over Chicago. She began her career as a pastry chef at D. Kelly and Pili Pili before coming to Dine.

Edited by Patricia D. Sherman

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