Mark Welker is the executive pastry chef at “Make it Nice” group which includes Eleven Madison Park and NoMad (New York, L.A., Las Vegas, and London). He was raised in Indiana, went to culinary school in Kentucky, and attended the former French Culinary Institute in NYC. Then you went to France “because you wanted to understand where pastry making was born”. Talking about his position today, Executive Pastry Chef Mark Welker says "It's a very collaborative team. When we talk about things we want to accomplish, everyone's voice counts and everyone's voice matters. I want people to be the best versions of themselves and I have to help them to get there, help them make good decisions".
What we covered in this episode

Chef Mark Welker went to France a few years after culinary school because he "wanted to understand where pastry making was born”. It was one of his first goals in life.
Since he started professionally, he always has been focused on his career. 
Setting goals and delivering on those goals are important for Chef Mark Welker. This applies to travel abroad as well.
He recommends traveling for people who want to enhance their career and just become a better person. 
Chef Mark Welker today's goals are less personal and more aligned with the company culture.
Coming back from France Chef Mark Welker staged at WD-50.
After helping friends in St Louis, Chef Mark Welker staged at Eleven Madison Park and he has been now more than 10 years in the group (recorded in 2020).
Chef Mark Welker talks about becoming a Four Stars NY Times restaurant, being on the top 50 San Pellegrino list,  and becoming a three Michelin Star restaurant.
What does it mean to be the first restaurant in the world?
About Nomad, we discussed how to create menus that are specific to each location but still keep the brand identity.
It takes a long time before you understand your style or the style of the restaurant that you're you're creating desserts for.
Listen to the full conversation on this page or on any phone podcast apps like Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Link to the podcast episode on Apple Podcast http://bit.ly/PastryChef_Mark_Welker

Links to other episodes in New York City
Chef David Burke - Restaurateur

Executive Chef Gabriel Kreuther

The Brandy Library with owner Flavien Desoblin

Pastry Chef Sam Mason - Odd Fellows

Chef Trigg Brown - Win Son



Submitted questions from podcast listeners
Which country is best for chefs?
I think there are so many locations, especially with the 50 best restaurants list out there, they highlight so many different restaurants from all over the world and so many of these restaurants have different philosophies. So if you want to focus on fermentation and foraging and things like that, there are restaurants out there that specialize in that, like, you know, a lot of the Nordic restaurants. I think some of the restaurants in Brazil and South America really do well with fermentation. If you're interested in Mexican cuisine and Mexican spices, then you should probably travel south of the border. I think that there are restaurants all over the world at this point time, and it doesn’t need to be a Michelin star restaurant. If you're passionate about Thai food and you want to learn about Thai ingredients, then just go travel through Thailand. Go eat on the streets. Go to the markets, go to the wet markets, have an Airbnb, get the ingredients and cook. As long as you're setting yourself goals. timelines, and pushing to meet those goals with a mindset of coming back and actually using what you've learned to better yourself and to further your career.
Which savory ingredients could be added to sweets?
In the realm of things being fermented, different koji inoculating with different things, using different homemade vinegars is a big one that really can help desserts a lot, like using kombucha techniques to make a tea. Kind of like make a fermented tea and then use that to season things.