Garces Group Brings in Michael Laiskonis as Consulting Pastry Chef

Now operating a portfolio of 19 restaurants across the country, Garces has brought in some help on the dessert front. The Garces Group announced today that they've brought in James Beard award-winning chef and consultant Michael Laiskonis to "guide the nationwide pastry and dessert program."

From 2004 to 2012, Laiskonis was executive pastry chef at Le Bernardin. Since then, he's been serving as Creative Director for NYC's Institute of Culinary Education, in addition to taking on consulting gigs.

Laiskonis is known for his fascination with the science of food and enthusiastic embrace of forward-thinking techniques, as often seen in his Lucky Peach column and in his previous involvement in IBM's "Cognitive Cooking" experiments. Earlier this year, the Garces Group hired similarly progressive-minded Justin Bogle (formerly of Avance) as corporate executive chef.