Elisabeth “Liz” Prueitt is a pastry chef and along with her husband Chad Robertson, the owner of the San Francisco bakery chain

Tartine Tartine is a small, US-based bakery chain. As of February 2022, it operates three locations in the San Francisco Bay Area, five in Los Angeles, and six in Seoul Capital Area, Seoul Capital Area, South Korea. Its original bakery opened in 2002 i ...

. She has been described as both a “brilliant pastry chef” and a “pastry prodigy.”

Early life

Elisabeth Prueitt is native of

Park Slope Park Slope is a neighborhood in northwestern Brooklyn, New York City, within the area once known as South Brooklyn. Park Slope is roughly bounded by Prospect Park and Prospect Park West to the east, Fourth Avenue to the west, Flatbush A ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. Prueitt first studied acting, then photojournalism, then enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America's chef’s training program (not pastry), then interned and line-cooked at ''Montrachet'', in NYC, then returned to the Culinary Institute of America. Prueitt graduated from

The Culinary Institute of America The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) is a private culinary school with its primary campus in Hyde Park, New York, and branch campuses in St. Helena and Napa, California; San Antonio, Texas; and Singapore. The college, which was the firs ...

Hyde Park, New York Hyde Park is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States, bordering the Hudson River north of Poughkeepsie. Within the town are the hamlets of Hyde Park, East Park, Staatsburg, and Haviland. Hyde Park is known as the hometown of Frankl ...

. Prueitt and Robertson met at the CIA. Prueitt was enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America's baking and pastry program. At 20, Robertson, from West Texas, smelled bread from Richard Bourdon's Berkshire Mountain Bakery in

Housatonic, Massachusetts Housatonic is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Great Barrington in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,109 at the 2010 census. It was named ...

, who referred Robertson to Patrick Le Port, of

Savoie Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè'' or ''Savouè-d'Avâl''; English: ''Savoy'' ) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Southeastern France. Located in the French Alps, its prefecture is Chambéry. In 2019, Savoie had a population of ...

. In 1994, Prueitt and Robertson traveled to, and worked through, France, learning from Daniel Collin (in

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

) and Patrick Le Port (in

Career

Prueitt and Chad Robertson, ran the Wood-Fire Baking in

Point Reyes Point Reyes (, meaning "Point of the Kings") is a prominent cape and popular Northern California tourist destination on the Pacific coast. Located in Marin County, it is approximately west-northwest of San Francisco. The term is often applied ...

and Bay Village Breads in

Mill Valley Mill Valley is a city in Marin County, California, United States, located about north of San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge and from Napa Valley. The population was 14,231 at the 2020 census. Mill Valley is located on the western and ...

.. Robertson and Prueitt then opened their first Tartine location in 2002. Bar Tartine, and in 2011, Tartine Sandwich followed.

Personal life

Prueitt went into premature labor, and their daughter was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Prueitt was a co-founder of Productive Learning Center of San Francisco. The school for children with motor disabilities is a non profit.

Awards and honors

* James Beard Award Best pastry chef.

References

Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Pastry chefs Culinary Institute of America Hyde Park alumni American women chefs Chefs from New York City People from Brooklyn James Beard Foundation Award winners {{chef-stub