Keegan Gerhard, named one of the nation’s top 10 pastry chefs of 2002 and 2004 by both Chocolatier and Pastry Art & Design magazines, brings a wealth of experience and abundant competitive energy to his position as Executive Pastry Chef.

A one-time cyclist, Gerhard originally pursued a career in culinary arts simply to have a mobile source of income that would allow him to train for the Olympics anywhere, any time. But convenience soon gave way to passion, as Gerhard found himself running the kitchen of a French bistro in San Diego. The day he fired his pastry chef and took over, he discovered his true passion – and it has been a wild ride ever since.

Gerhard set out to learn from the best, and worked as the assistant to the celebrated Master pastry chef, Jacquy Pfeiffer, the Alsace-born owner and founder of the French Pastry School in Chicago. Gerhard describes this as more of an apprenticeship and awakening. Pastry chef positions in many of America’s top kitchens such as Charlie Trotters Restaurant, Waldorf Astoria, Ritz-Carlton Naples, Four Seasons Chicago, Dean and DeLuca and Wynn Las Vegas gave impetus to the creation of Keegan’s own Dessert restaurant – D Bar Desserts in Denver, CO.

When he’s not preparing seasonal product-driven delicacies in the pastry shop, Keegan spends time organizing and serving as M.C. for the “The National Pastry Team Championships”, “The World Pastry Team Championships” and Host of Food Network’s top rated “Food Network Challenge.”

He has been featured numerous times on the Discovery Channel’s Great Chefs of America, as well as the Travel Channel and CNN. For the 2001 Pastry World Cup, he served as technical advisor to Team USA, which brought home a gold medal. Gerhard is a 2-time recipient of the Distinguished Visiting Pastry Chef award from Johnson & Wales University, and has received the Jean Banchet Culinary Excellence Award. Chef Gerhard has had the honor of participating in 8 different James Beard Dinners. His light, fresh fruit desserts have also been featured widely in A Neo-Classic View of Plated Desserts, Chocolatier, FoodArts, Pastry Baking North America and many other publications.