LJ and the Kat Lounge's pastry chef has advice for aspiring cooks

Editor's note: This is part of an occasional series of profiles of local restaurant chefs.




Alisha Hanlin, 26, is the pastry chef for the Hagerstown restaurant LJ's and the Kat Lounge, a high-end restaurant. Hanlin graduated from Williamsport High School, attended Shepherd University and now lives in Shepherdstown, W.Va.


Hanlin said when she was young, her mother invited her to work with her in the kitchen.

"I did small tasks around the kitchen at home — a lot of bread and cakes, things that involved mixing and the more simplistic end of food preparation," she said. "I picked up a lot more from my mother in cooking with her as a child than I realized until I was in the professional kitchen and I was applying this knowledge that I had gotten from her."

Hanlin stepped out of LJ's kitchen and sat down with The Herald-Mail for a conversation about her passion for pastry.



When did you know you wanted to become a chef?

When you're young and if you do start to cook for yourself, and you do a little bit of baking at home, there are these moments when you have sort of a breakthrough — "I can do that; it's not actually that complicated." You have this thing you really love, that makes your day better. And you have that little epiphany. And from there you can take it as far as you want to, really.



What was food like in your family when you were little?

I was lucky. I had a very skilled chef as a mother, and she put a lot of attention to having a healthful structure to our meals. There was always a variety of protein and produce and fruits. Never too bread-heavy, too potato heavy. Everything was a balanced meal. (She baked) a lot of cakes, cupcakes, brownies. A big PTA baker.



Were there any foods you didn't like as a kid?

I don't think I was too terrible. I do remember getting fussed at a great deal. Because, like I said, my mother would have vegetables, pork chops, salad, rolls. And I'd sit there and I'd just want to eat a bowl of apple slices — the food with the highest sugar content on the table.



Where did you get your formal pastry training?

I'm not formally trained in pastry. Or culinary, for that matter.



So how did you get started as a chef?

I decided I wanted to make my career path my own sort of blue-collar culinary education. I decided that once I had learned a great deal from one environment or person or style of cooking, I would move on. I would explore something else.



And right out of school you went into a kitchen, then?

Yes, I started cooking when I turned 18. I graduated from high school and went to Shepherd as an art student. I was a painting major. Then I did a little bit of farm work, and then started working in a kitchen while I was going to school.

I started out on the hot line — grill, saute — and just started moving from kitchen to kitchen, from sandwich shops to kitchens with more complex dishes.

I've been all over the area. Mostly savory, being a line cook. In Shepherdstown, I've (worked) at the Blue Moon (Cafe), Shaharazade's (Restaurant and Tea Room), Bistro 112 before it became Stone Soup (Bistro). I was at Dish in Charles Town (W.Va). I've worked in Berkeley Springs (W.Va) And I worked with Al Elmerraji at Safron Bakery in Hagerstown.