Steven Cheung, Pastry Sous Chef

Chef Steven Cheung is Residential & Dining Enterprises (R&DE) Stanford Dining’s first-ever Pastry Sous Chef, and is a culinary artist in the areas of baking, pastry, chocolate, and confections. As a child, Steven enjoyed the creativity of art, but desired to go beyond the typical media of paint and canvas. During elementary school his class project was to bake a Pear & White Chocolate Cookie, and he credits this experience with inspiring his path as a pastry chef. Today he realizes his creative goals with chocolate, fruits, and flour as his paint, and the plate as his canvas.

Chef Steven has a culinary arts degree from City College of San Francisco, and also earned a Diploma in Pâtisserie from the Hong Kong Culinary Academy. During his externship he focused on pastry and ice cream at Hotel Monaco in San Francisco. Following this he made French-influenced California cuisine at Traci Des Jardins’ Jardinière, also in San Francisco. He then moved on to Cavallo Point in Sausalito, California, making everything from hand-laminated croissants and freshly-spun ice cream to dark pumpernickel rye and buttery brioche. He developed his skills in chocolate and confections at Socola Chocolatier in San Francisco, preparing sweets such as pâte de fruit and hand-dipped truffles.

At R&DE Stanford Dining’s Schwab Executive Dining, Chef Steven continues to refine his technique in terms of flavor, texture, and plating. His plating technique is inspired by the abstract paintings of Wassily Kandinsky, including playful elements of color, shape, and movement. One of his signature desserts that reflects this inspiration is “The Apple Experience.” This dish features spheres of White Wine Poached Apple, Apple Butter Spheres, Peanut Butter Pastry Cream, and a spiral of Dried Apple Skin to reflect the range of colors, shapes, and flavors associated with apples. He says, “I enjoy the opportunity to treat Schwab guests with artfully prepared dishes.”