Ube Halaya-Stuffed French Toast

Chef Stacy Bareng takes people on a culinary exploration through extraordinary cuisine. Hailing from a Filipino immigrant family, Bareng's passion for food was ignited by helping her grandma and mother grow organic vegetables, raise livestock, and cook authentic farm-to-table Filipino cuisine.
After graduating from Le Cordon Bleu with a specialization in French, Italian, and Mediterranean cuisine, Bareng worked her way up in hotel kitchens honing her skills. At ever-popular The Tasting Kitchen, she worked directly with James Beard-nominated Casey Lane as a sous chef, mastering whole animal butchery and pasta making while learning to channel her creative process. After pursuing side projects, Bareng became chef de cuisine for Viale dei Romani, a coastal Italian restaurant named "one of the biggest openings of 2018" nationally by Food & Wine Magazine while under her supervision. She then returned to San Luis Obispo as executive chef at Cass House Grill, a true farm-to-table restaurant under consultant/mentor, Julie Simon. Needing a return to Los Angeles, Bareng worked along two-Michelin-starred chef Josiah Citrin to relaunch Melisse before the pandemic started. Bareng enjoys applying all her technique and experience to the cuisine of her childhood, so expect Filipino comfort food such as lumpias, pancit, and adobo with a Californian-Angeleno flair.

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