Chocolates à la Carte

It's Cool to Serve Ice Cream

If a military title could be given to a pastry chef, then Rudi Weider would be a five-star general.

Weider is the executive pastry chef at the San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina. At this convention hotel on the scenic San Diego waterfront, he runs a small pastry army.

Weider's pastry department is part of the hotel's $30 million food and beverage department. The 1,400-room hotel has four restaurants, a retail pastry shop in the lobby called "Rudi's Bake Shop" and banquet facilities to serve up to 5,000 guests.

A high point of his career came last August when he created the dessert for 4,000 people attending the Republican Party's dinner celebrating Bob Dole's nomination.

There, Weider and his pastry staff of nine, along with a little help from the rest of the kitchen, created a sensational dessert consisting of a white and dark chocolate star with the convention's logo silk screened on the top and a Grand Marnier mousse inside. Finishing the plate were three sauces and fresh fruit.

"The dessert really blew the guests' minds," says Weider. "It looked and tasted great, but it was actually a rather simple dessert to produce. With help from Chocolates à la Carte on producing the chocolate stars and doing the silk screening for me, all we had to do was assemble them."

This is easy for Weider to say with 25 years of pastry experience and the prestigious German Master of Pastry and Confections title behind his name.

Weider was born and raised in a chef's household in Bracht, Germany near Dusseldorf. From an early age he loved the dessert and pastry part of his father's restaurant.

At 14 years of age he began his pastry apprenticeship and by 18 he was working as a Patissier at the Dusseldorf Hilton. He then worked at hotels in Montreal, Bermuda, United Arab Emirates, and then returned to West Germany to study and take his Master of Pastry exams in 1981. He scored second in all of Germany on this test.

In 1983, Weider began his career with Marriott Corporation at the Cairo Marriott. He then transferred to open the flagship J.W. Marriott in Washington, D.C. There he was promoted to corporate pastry chef for all Marriott Hotels and Resorts worldwide.

Since 1989 he has been at the San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina where he is in charge of this hotel's pastry department.

Weider believes that desserts make people happy. They are a finale to a meal that most people look forward to and remember. He is particularly fond of chocolate and feels it is one of God's gifts to mankind.

"I started using products from Chocolates a la Carte when I was in Washington, D.C.," says Weider. "When I serve chocolate containers or personalized desserts from them, I always get a great response from my guests. Plus, Chocolates à la Carte really helps me out with large events."

The key to success in creating desserts for big events is planning says Weider. "I like to get involved in the early stages of the planning of an event. Both myself and the executive chef attend the taste panels and personally help the customers decide on which dishes to serve for their events."

Weider believes in keeping dessert plates simple. He likes to use small portions and wants each plate to be colorful. He is particularly fond of dessert combination plates and also likes to serve several desserts for a banquet table. "It's a great ice breaker at the table," he says "and people love to taste all of the different desserts."

Some of the more popular desserts he has discovered that work for large events are: Chocolate Champagne Mousse Timbale with Apricot and Tropical Mango Sauce; Chocolate Macadamia Cheese Tart with Vanilla Sauce and a Painter's Palette plate that has four petite desserts, four sauces and a chocolate painter's brush as a finishing touch.

For really big events, Weider's secret weapon is a conveyor belt on which he and his staff can plate up more than 1,000 plates per hour. "With huge events we become a dessert factory," he says. "Everyone does a different element, and at the end it all comes together." At times, he has used up to 20 people on a line assembling desserts.

Weider is happy with his life as a pastry general. "My dad used to say, "You don't have to be crazy to do this job, but it helps." I may not be crazy, but I love my job, my staff and it doesn't hurt to be living in paradise making people feel good."