Food & Wine ::

Elizabeth Falkner:
The Woman Behind The (Citizen) Cake

By Heather Aimee O ’Neill

As Executive Chef and owner of the acclaimed Citizen Cake in San Francisco’s Hayes Valley, Elizabeth Falkner is enjoying her ride on the celebrity chef bandwagon. Among her many accomplishments, Falkner was named “Rising Star Chef” by the San Francisco Chronicle, “Pastry Chef of the Year” by San Francisco Magazine, and included in Bon Appetite’s “10 Best Pastry Chefs in America.” In 2005, she was nominated for a James Beard Award for “Best Pastry Chef” and won a Charles M. Holmes Award from The Human Rights Campaign.

As if Citizen Cake, which just celebrated its 10-year anniversary, wasn’t keeping her busy enough, Falkner and her partner are now set to open a second restaurant this September. Jane and Jane recently caught up with Falkner to talk about the culinary business, why she opened Citizen Cake and how she likes a little dessert with her dinner.

Jane and Jane: Did you always know you wanted to be a chef?
Elizabeth Falkner: No. When I graduated from art school, I got a part-time job at a café while I was working at a production company. I just loved the theatrical dramatic-ness of a restaurant. It’s entertainment.

J&J: What inspired you to go from working in other people’s kitchens to opening Citizen Cake? EF: I was working for Rubicon and thought, “Why aren’t there are bakeries in this city? It’s a food town!” We obviously needed a bakery, so I guessed I [had] better open one. Then the bakery transformed into a restaurant and bar in the last 10 years.

J&J: Where did you get the name Citizen Cake?
EF: I pushed my pastry people to come up with interesting titles instead of Bread Pudding or Napoleon. Titles have always been really important to me. I had a signature dessert at Rubicon that was a rose crème brûlée and I wanted to play on my film background. Citizen Kane seemed completely appropriate. I love the propaganda imagery it conjures up, and being near City Hall brings it all together.

J&J: What are some of your influences outside of the culinary arts?
EF: Architecture, sculpture, light and movies all have an influence on me, and [on] certain other people’s food[s], too. I eat around and think, “That’s fantastic. I love that idea. How can I make my own version of that?” or “I’m so tired of everyone’s menu being the same; how can I do something much more exciting?”

J&J: Any plans to open any other restaurants in San Francisco?
EF: My partner and I are opening another restaurant, called Orson, this September. We call it edgy California cuisine, because I have a strong foundation of cooking in California and of using all of the local ingredients and seasonality. That’s just part of how we cook in California; that’s just our mindset. But I’ve also, especially as a pastry chef, always been into experimental cuisine, so we’ll be doing a lot more of that.

J&J: What about a restaurant outside of San Francisco?
EF: I think we’ll have to go outside of San Francisco next because there’s only so much population here. [Laughs] I would love to do something on the East Coast or in a different country.

J&J: Any particular city on the East Coast or any certain country?
EF: As far as confectionary, places like Tokyo or Singapore are pretty attractive because the consumers are into refined desserts and they’re very educated about it. Also, they’re massive populations and can certainly handle a new trend.

J&J: Are you surprised by the celebrity of chefs these days?
EF: It’s amazing how chefs have become more celebrity over the last decade or so. That’s ever been my prize but I’ve always been more star-struck about chefs. When I was going to school, I worked at Williams-Sonoma and people like Julia Child and cookbook authors and chefs [came in] and I recognized them. I was star-struck because I knew how much work is involved in [what they do]. With the Food Network and Bravo, it’s just so much more. I think it’s great because it’s an amazing artistic medium.

J&J: If you weren’t a chef, what would you do?
EF: I grew up in an artistic family so if I wasn’t playing with edible things, I’d probably find another medium to make pieces out of.

J&J: Dessert or dinner first?
EF: It depends! These days I actually don’t think about dessert as a different category. I really like foods that are more cross-over, which isn’t that strange. When you have both it plays with you. And dessert doesn’t have to be super sweet. This country’s finally getting that it’s not just about having a big piece of cake or pudding. There are so many possibilities to bring salty and savory components into sweet things.