South Pas Resident Competes in 'Top Chef: Just Desserts' Finale Tonight

Danielle Keene is no stranger to satisfying a sweet tooth. Before joining her competitors on Bravo's Top Chef: Just Desserts, she worked at Water Grill, Campanile, and A.O.C. in Los Angeles, and also as a pastry chef at Wilshire Restaurant. In 2009, about a year after moving to South Pasadena, the ambitious 29-year old started Bittersweet Treats, an online store that specializes in tantalizing, old-fashioned desserts such as cupcakes, cookies, ice creams and other specialty confections.

To talk to Keene is to feel like you're one of her closest friends. Witty, vivacious and full of energy, the young pastry chef graciously talked about her future business aspirations, favorite places to eat in South Pasadena, and of course, dessert.

Born in Culver City and raised in Sherman Oaks and Valencia, California, Keene grew up in a household where dessert was held in high regard. She remembers helping her mom bake oatmeal cookies as a young girl, bestowed with the task of cracking fresh walnuts. Her mother Sheila Keene, who also has fond memories of those days, said, "It was really about spending time together. I would do that with our girls, and Dani was the one that really took to that."

Her mother recognized Keene's talents early on. "I could see that early on it was a real passion for Dani, and when her sister would go off to camp, we'd do a little restaurant thing. She'd have a menu, and she'd call it Café Dani, and she'd serve us ice cream."

Keene says one of her biggest inspirations is Martha Stewart, who inspired to enter the pastry world from childhood. These days, Keene is now in charge of far more than simply cracking walnuts.

"I started Bittersweet Treats [as a] culmination of all of my favorite things that I liked to do in restaurants, and because sometimes, you just want to make cake and ice cream," she said. "As a kid, and later when I worked in restaurants, my favorite thing has always been ice cream. It's kind of a blank canvas that you can do anything with."

In an effort to grow her dessert business and still abstain from jumping on the cupcake shop bandwagon, Keene plans on someday opening a soda fountain.

"A cupcake shop, you can walk into, buy twelve and leave," she said. "In a soda fountain, there's something great about that experience of going in, sitting down and watching someone whip up a sundae right in front of you.

However, knowing Keene, she would definitely find a way to work desserts into the menu. "It would still have elements of a bakery. I would incorporate warm cookies into a sundae, or bring other dessert elements into it."

Andy Lee, who worked as an assistant pastry chef for Keene at Wilshire Restaurant, said Keene is best known for her sweet comfort foods. "I think as far as a style is considered, her's is very simple and very American. She does a modern take on American classics."

"She's classicly trained so she applies a lot of the French techniques," Lee added. "Her flavorful style is what separates her from other pastry chefs."

Keene's lemon custard parfait ranks high on Lee's list of favorites. "It had these melty marshmallows on top - I have no idea how she achieved that," he said.

Keene's mother said she's proud of her daughter's appearance on Top Chef: Just Desserts. "She was driven enough to try out for it and sure enough she got it."

The only Los Angeles-based star of the show, Keene settled in South Pasadena because of its  neighborhood feel.

"There has always been that little part of me that wants a nice, safe place to live." She found that place in South Pasadena and went on to gush about the fact that she can take walks late at night and still feel safe.

Keene also enjoys the plentiful dining options in South Pasadena. Some of her favorite restaurants and cafés include Buster's, Great Harvest Bread Company, Mike & Anne's, and Gus's BBQ. 

"Buster's makes this lime rickey and I like to have them make it with grape syrup," Keene said excitedly. "And Mike & Anne's is a 'legit' restaurant. They're open everyday for breakfast and those ricotta pancakes are so good. I love Gus's, too – Gus's is so good."

When it comes to cooking and baking at home, however, this pastry chef's kitchen by no means resembles Willy Wonka's chocolate factory.

"It's not that I don't like cooking, but I really save the big stuff for holidays. I'm a big fan of Trader Joe's and Patakan [on Fair Oaks Avenue]. I hit up those two places quite a lot."

Keene is a welcome addition to South Pasadena, both personally and creatively. With any luck, South Pasadena might one day become the future location of her very own eatery.

Tune into the final episode of Top Chef: Just Desserts on Bravo TV Wednesday night at 10 p.m. to watch South Pasadena resident Danielle Keene whip up something special.