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Compliments to the Chef
C rystol Smith

f Crystol Smith, production chef with Dining Services
Iat the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, had
followed her mother’s wishes, her career would have been
completely different.
“I decided that food service was for me when I was three
semesters short of graduation with my bachelor’s,” she said.
“I went to Michigan State [in East Lansing] and like most
college kids these days, changed my major three times. I just
decided one day that I didn’t want to get my bachelor’s and
that I was doing it for my mom because she wanted me to
have that piece of paper, and what I really wanted to do was Smith attended the school with the intention of get-
be a pastry chef.” ting a bachelor’s degree, but a great opportunity presented
Smith first became interested in food while watching TV itself, altering her plans. “After I earned my associate’s, I
as a child. “At that time, I watched a lot of PBS and Lidia did my externship with Chef Daniel Budd at Taste Budd’s
Bastianich, and the Food Network started getting big. I was Café in Red Hook, N.Y. He approached me offering me a
really into cake decorating and the big showpieces and Alton position as a pastry chef instead of finishing my bachelor’s.”
Brown’s ‘Good Eats’ with all of the science involved in it. At the café, she worked with customers who had dietary
For me, pastry is what I really wanted to do, and I was always restrictions. “One of the things I am really proud of is that
into art and drawing and being creative. That was the perfect when I was at Taste Budd’s, we had a customer request a
combination between science and art.” birthday cake for a friend of theirs who was gluten-free and
When she left Michigan State, she attended Lansing Com- couldn’t have refined sugar, and hadn’t had a birthday cake in
munity College and earned her restaurant management and 13 years because you can’t purchase anything from a store that
food service associate’s degree. “Before culinary school, I did is like that. I found out what she liked — peanut butter and
a little bit of everything,” she said. “I did some catering. I was chocolate — and made her a gluten-free cake with a peanut
also working at Domino’s Pizza, so I was assistant manager butter filling and a chocolate ganache on the outside that was
there. I worked at a restaurant, where I was working the line all gluten-free. I only used honey and Splenda as sweeteners.”
and kitchen managing.” Smith stayed in Hyde Park until her wife got a promotion,
In her mid-20s, she decided the time was right to pursue a which moved them to Illinois and she began her career at
career in baking and pastry by attending culinary school. She the university’s bake house. She then moved into a position
ended up at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, in the catering department. After the catering position was
N.Y. “I didn’t know what school I was going to attend. At the eliminated, she began her current position in Lincoln Avenue
time, Cindy, my wife now, didn’t have a job. She applied to Residence (LAR) Hall.
jobs in areas with great culinary schools. It just so happened She especially enjoys interacting with students in this posi-
that she got a job in New York. That is how I chose the CIA.” tion. “While in catering I was doing something that I loved,
I didn’t get to see the client,” she said. “I didn’t get to see or
hear what they thought, or experience what they thought.”
Smith is also able to use her skills to help those with special
dietary needs. “LAR has a vegetarian/vegan dining hall on
its own, so we do a lot of that,” she said. “My favorite thing
about baking is creating things that people who have dietary
restrictions can enjoy. You miss out on a lot of those things if
you can’t have gluten, or you can’t have sugar, or are vegan
by choice and you don’t want to have butter and eggs.”
—OCH

Know a chef who should be

featured in the pages of
On-Campus Hospitality?
For Smith’s Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free, No-Sugar-Added
Red Velvet Cake with Pickled Beet Stems and Fried Beet Contact us at Greggw@ebmpubs4.com.
Greens, please visit www.oncampushospitality.com

10 | AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017 ON-CAMPUS HOSPITALITY