Sylvia Gould

Coming Up

Pastry at Florida State University led Sylvia Gould into restaurant service, then into the back-of-house cadence of Kool Beanz Cafe in Tallahassee, Florida. She started there as a server in 1996, reading the room from the floor first: service timing, table flow, and the sequence of a meal as it moves course by course. That front-of-house training later gave way to pastry work at Kool Beanz Cafe in Tallahassee, Florida, where she moved into the pastry chef role and stayed until 2025.

Where They Are Now

As pastry chef, Gould used dessert as a place for contrast and play. Her sweets leaned toward invention, with plates that could carry a nostalgic note without staying polite. Creative sweets and peanut butter mousse bombs sat comfortably in that register, showing a hand that could work from familiarity but push the finish somewhere less expected. In Gould’s kitchen, dessert held the last word of the meal. Her own words point to the same practical curiosity. Gould said, “I want to be more involved in the community.” She also said, “It’s my next big step and I’m nervous but excited.” The mix is familiar to anyone moving a practice forward: room for collaboration, room for uncertainty, and room for the next round of work.

Signature

Sylvia Gould’s signature dishes include Vietnamese Coffee Baked Alaska and peanut butter mousse bombs. The pairing maps the range of her pastry: one dessert built around the bold, aromatic edge of Vietnamese Coffee Baked Alaska, the other grounded in the dense familiarity of peanut butter mousse bombs. Together, they show a pastry chef working with contrast, texture, and flavor combinations that meet cleanly without losing their edge.

In Their Words “I may do collaborations with other chefs. I want to see what grows organically.”