The Ritz-Carlton Lodge, Reynolds Plantation:
Chef brings Classical French Training
and Lifetime Love of Chocolate

“My father has been a huge inspiration for many of my recipes and creations and I am often reminded of home when I am in the kitchen,” says Antony Fernandez.

By Patricia D. Sherman

When it comes to chocolate, Antony Fernandez was an early bloomer. In fact, he can trace his love of chocolate to infancy. “When I was a baby, my mother would pour milk over my chocolate to make it softer for me to eat since I didn’t yet have all of my teeth,” says the Executive Pastry Chef at The Ritz-Carlton Lodge, Reynolds Plantation, GA.

His love of baking began early, too. He had his hands in flour, sugar, chocolate and dough at the age of 12 when he began assisting his father with the family’s pastry shop in Normandy, France. “Since I grew up helping my father in his pastry shop, I feel baking is a part of who I am. Chocolate was often a treat for me.  Each time I walked into my father’s bakery, I would grab a piece,” recalls Chef Fernandez. “My father has been a huge inspiration for many of my recipes and creations and I am often reminded of home when I am in the kitchen.”

Naturally, Chef Fernandez has very definite ideas about chocolate, and he shared some of the recently with ChocolateAtlas.com 

CA: What is your chocolate philosophy? 

Chef Fernandez: I have a passion for working with chocolate, but I only work with chocolate that contains cocoa butter. Without it, it just isn’t chocolate to me.  To reduce costs, many chocolate companies have cut this ingredient and replaced it with margarine. This results in lost flavor and difficulty in baking.  The cocoa butter found in real chocolate gives chocolate a nice luster and versatility, which is extremely important when carving.

CA: What is your favorite chocolate?

Chef Fernandez: To eat, dark chocolate with Courvoiser – it’s the only way! To work with, dark chocolate that contains cocoa butter because you are able to see and repair imperfections in whatever you are creating. Dark chocolate yields presentations that have an incredible glow.

CA: Describe your signature chocolate dessert. 

Chef Fernandez: Three chocolate Bavarian served with dark chocolate crème brulee and chocolate cake—the ultimate dessert for chocolate lovers.  The three chocolate Bavarian is a ayered mousse of dark, milk and white chocolate. The chocolate crème brulee is topped with margarita sorbet to complement the sweetness with just the right dose of bitterness.  The chocolate cake is served warm with chocolate icing. (Chef Fernandez shares his recipe for Grand Cru Champagne Truffles here.)

CA: What other ways do you use chocolate?

Chef Fernandez: For a special dinner, I like to incorporate chocolate into the décor of the room.  For example, at Thanksgiving Dinner at The Ritz-Carlton Lodge, Reynolds Plantation, I carved six violins out of chocolate to use on the dessert buffet. I also use chocolate to decorate the “South’s Largest Gingerbread House” that is unveiled the night of the hotel’s Lighting of the Lodge. 

CA: What’s the most unusual thing have made with chocolate:

Chef Fernandez: When I was working as the executive pastry chef at The Ritz-Carlton Golf and Spa Resort, Rose Hall, Jamaica, I entered the Caribbean Chocolate Olympics.  I am a huge fan of Bob Marley, so for my creation, I carved Bob Marley out of chocolate – I brought home the gold medal.

More About Chef Fernandez:

Chef Fernandez entered the National Culinary Bakery and Pastry Institute in Rouen, France when he was 15. After graduating, he apprenticed for Andre Boucher and Jean Marie Osmond, Meilleurs Ouvrier de France (Master Chefs of France). Then he moved to the United States and opened pastry shops in Tampa and Sarasota, FL. Five years later, he joined The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company as assistant pastry chef at The Ritz-Carlton Wolfsburg, Germany. After four years in Germany, he moved to the Caribbean as the executive pastry chef at The Ritz-Carlton Golf and Spa Resort, Rose Hall, Jamaica.  Then in 2004, he transferred to The Ritz-Carlton Lodge, Reynolds Plantation. Chef Fernandez lives in Greensboro, GA, with his wife Helene and children, Valenteen and Jordan.

The 241-room Ritz-Carlton Lodge, Reynolds Plantation, is a Mobile four-star resort on Lake Oconee, a drive of about an hour and a half from Atlanta. It was named one of the best hotels in America by Travel + Leisure magazine.

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