Chef Five Bites: Tom Wellings

Chicago native Tom Wellings joined Equinox as pastry chef last year. (The restaurant will hopefully be back up and running in the next month or so after a fire.) Wellings studied under chocolate master Jacques Torres at the French Culinary Institute in New York, which led to stages at Ilo in the Bryant Park Hotel and at wd-50 under Sam Mason.

He then moved to Virginia to join the Ritz-Carlton Tysons Corner, followed with a stint as head pastry chef at Restaurant Eve, and returned to the Ritz to work under Fabio Trabocchi at Maestro. When Trabocchi departed for the now-shuttered Fiamma in New York, Wellings went with him. Lucky for us, he's back in the DC area and should be turning out sweets like warm ricotta fritters with brown butter ice cream once Equinox reopens.

1. Baba Rhum at Marcel’s (Marcel’s pastry chef is Tom’s wife)

2. Bucatini from Sonoma

3. Margherita pizza from 2 Amys

4. Ossabaw pork belly from EcoFriendly Foods at the Dupont Circle FreshFarm Market

5. The CityZen candy bar

Previous Chef Five Bites: Cathal Armstrong, Dani Arana, David Guas, Josh Short, Michel Richard, Haidar Karoum, Ryan Morgan, Shannon Overmiller, Anthony Chittum, Jonathan Krinn & Jon Mathieson, Victor Albisu, Vatche Benguian, John Snedden, Nicholas Stefanelli, Travis Olson, Brian Robinson, Cliff Wharton, Alex Bollinger, Massimo Fabbri, Daniel Bortnick, Rob Weland, Olivier Perret, Dennis Marron, Dean Gold, Mike Isabella, Bryan Voltaggio, Geoff Tracy, Bart Vandaele, Rodney Scruggs, Clayton Miller, Alex McCoy, Steve Mannino, Will Artley, Kyle Bailey & Tiffany MacIsaac, Santosh Tiptur, Barton Seaver, Glenn Babcock, Antonio Burrell, Claudio Pirollo and Mickael Cornu, Wesley Morton, Scott Drewno, Ellen and Todd Gray, Philippe Reininger

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