1012 Corridor

The New Orleans-born pastry chef who left south Louisiana for Washington, D.C., a decade ago is making a splash with his first cookbook, DamGoodSweet.

The boy who grew up an unlikely chef has come a long way indeed.

Guas was raised on the east side of New Orleans, across the Industrial Canal. His family had high expectations for him to become a doctor.

But that was not to be. Even at a very early age, his favorite spot when his Cuban and Louisiana relatives came to visit was the kitchen.

His Aunt Boo, from Abbeville, got him his first cast-iron pot and showed him how to make a roux. She also made him his first cucumber and tomato sandwich using sun-warmed vegetables from the garden and white bread with mayonnaise, which is still one of his favorites today.

Abuelo, his Cuban grandfather, taught him that it wasn’t always the women who took charge in the kitchen. He also used to pick him up on Saturdays and Sundays to make the rounds of bakeries and butcher shops to visit his buddies.

Granny, his Louisiana-born grandmother, taught him to appreciate the fruits of the soil—including wild berries from the back woods.

When Guas got older, it was clear that he wasn’t much of a fan of schooling, so a medical career was out of the question. Guas loved to cook, so he got a job at the food court at the mall not far from his house, making cheese steaks. In four months, he was managing the store.

“There was a simple pleasure in making something as simple as a cheese steak, and having someone come up and say, ‘That was the best cheese steak I ever had,’ ” Guas says. “I liked the way that felt, the instant gratification I felt from creating something that gave someone else pleasure.”

He finished a short cooking school in New Orleans, and then set his sights high: The Windsor Court Hotel. The day he was scheduled to start work at the Court of Two Sisters, he got a job offer at the five-star hotel. He worked his way up to associate pastry chef under Executive Chef Jeff Tunks.

Tunks took Guas with him to Washington, D.C., where he opened DC Coast, TenPenh, Ceiba and Acadiana. By then, the executive pastry chef was creating Latin-American- and Caribbean-inspired desserts and developing sophisticated interpretations of beignets and Bananas Foster.

Guas’ creations have won praise in Food & Wine , Chocolatier, Santé, Cooking Light, Food Arts and National Culinary Review. Bon Appétit has featured Guas as one of eight “Dessert Stars” in the nation. He’s been named Pastry Chef of the Year by the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington. And he’s appeared regularly on The Today Show.

In 2007, he started his own firm, Damgoodsweet Consulting Group, which provides private consultation, boutique catering, cookbooks and, eventually, a bakery.

He says he and his wife talk about moving back to Louisiana once a week, but their roots—and his professional reputation—are now firmly planted in D.C. “My heart hurts for Louisiana and New Orleans,” he says, “but it’s just a short trip away.”