Chef
Elise Curtis
- Discipline
- Chef
- Based in
- Traverse City, Michigan, United States
i. Biography
Traverse City cooking gives Elise Curtis a working register built on hand skills: dough under pressure, curd watched as it gathers and sets, pasta moved through the stages between flour and finished plate. These are process-led foods, and they reward repetition more than improvisation. In the kitchen at Trattoria Stella in Traverse City, Curtis works close to that material practice as Sous/Pastry Chef, with bread, pasta, and cheese making alongside the systems that keep service steady: production, ordering, catering, and the exacting prep behind the dining room.
Formation
Professional kitchen fundamentals formed the base at The Great Lakes Culinary Institute, where Elise Curtis trained before building a practice around polished, process-dependent work. Bread, pasta, and cheese making are not shortcut crafts. They require touch, timing, temperature control, and the ability to read texture before it is corrected by a recipe. Kitchen responsibility at the level of Executive Chef at Trattoria Stella depends on more than station skill. In Curtis’s case, the path from culinary training to that role points to daily steadiness: taking ingredients through structured preparations, repeating them under pressure, and sending them to the dining room with consistency.
Current Practice
The Sous/Pastry Chef role at Trattoria Stella, as held by Curtis, covers more than a pastry station. Pastry work remains central, but production, ordering, catering, and service planning sit inside the same responsibility. The craft is not separated from coordination; the making depends on the systems that let a kitchen hold its timing. Bread, pasta, and cheese making give the work its tactile spine. Each craft has its own pace, but all three rely on judgment by hand. Bread is read as it rises and relaxes. Pasta asks for restraint in handling. Cheese making depends on patience and close observation as curd changes state. For Curtis, those processes form a practical kitchen language: time, texture, temperature, and repetition. The Hibiscus Berry Crostata, featured as the purple course for Taste the Rainbow, shows that range inside pastry. The dish stays within a handmade structure while meeting the color-led brief of the course: fruit, pastry construction, and a clear purple expression.
Signature
Signature dishes include Hibiscus Berry Crostata.
Standing
A James Beard House appearance in New York placed Curtis’s bread, pasta, and cheese making in a different dining context without changing the craft emphasis. The recognition kept attention on the materials closest to her work: dough, pasta, and cheese. It marked a through line from the Traverse City kitchen to New York service, built on disciplined, tactile preparation rather than ornament.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Elise
What role does Elise Curtis hold?
Elise Curtis is sous/Pastry Chef.
Where did Elise Curtis train or study?
Elise Curtis trained at The Great Lakes Culinary Institute.
What is Elise Curtis known for?
Bread, pasta, and cheese making.
