Gina DePalma

The Path

Gina DePalma trained at The Institute of Culinary Education in 1994, then worked in the kitchen at Chanterelle and in the kitchen at Gramercy Tavern. Those years led to Babbo, where she served as executive Pastry Chef from 1998–2013. Over that stretch, her work became associated with Italian pastry and with a style that could read as spare on the plate while still carrying strong structure and definition.

The Work Today

Italian pastry is the center of her practice, and Gina DePalma’s desserts are described as artfully simple Italian desserts: measured, direct, and built on exact technique rather than ornament. The saffron panna cotta remains a Babbo signature, and it reflects the approach she brought to the restaurant — composed, lucid, and precise. That perspective also moved into print with Dolce Italiano: Desserts from the Babbo Kitchen, published in 2007, extending her pastry work beyond service into book form. She has said, “I live in New York City and I'm a chef and author,” a plain statement that tracks with the practical shape of her work.

Signature

Gina's signature dishes include saffron panna cotta, Dolce Italiano: Desserts from the Babbo Kitchen, and My Sweet Italy. Taken together, they map the range of her pastry output: a Babbo signature, a cookbook from the Babbo Kitchen, and another title that keeps Italian sweets at the center of the frame.

In Their Words “I became the Pastry Chef of Babbo Restaurant when it opened in 1998, and spent nearly 15 happy and very productive years there.”

Acclaim

Gina's honors include Beard Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef (2009).