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Desserted: Why don't pastry chefs get more respect?

The one word I heard from every pastry chef interviewed for this article was “perfect.” Perfect is the holy grail of dessert professionals. I interviewed pastry chefs that manage kitchens that bake for multiple restaurants, like Dave Topian at Legal Seafoods and Nicole Coady at Finale; old pros like Tom Ponticelli at Davio’s and Lee Napoli at ChocoLee; foreign-flavor specialists like Maura Kilpatrick at Sofra and Oleana; and sweet young things who turn out sweet jewels for tiny bistros, like Brittany Suhan at Prezza, and Paola Fioravanti at the new BiNa. They may not realize it, but every one of them used the word “perfect” to describe what they seek in their work. It’s this obsession with perfect that sets pastry chefs apart from other chefs.