Words by Elaine Wu
Everything about Sam Ceccotti’s culinary career has been about family. From the big Sunday dinners at her maternal grandparents’ house just outside of Philadelphia to the summers she spent as a kid with her pastry chef paternal grandmother in Florida, food was her connection to the people she loved. “My grandpa was always a good cook. He was self-taught and he always put love into everything. He sparked my love for the kitchen,” Sam recalls. “And my dad’s mother taught me everything in the Wilton cookbook, like how to make sugar flowers and cake decorations. It was all so beautiful and so creative. It was then I decided I wanted to become a pastry chef.”
After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America in New York, Sam landed the plum role of executive pastry chef at the Plumed Horse in Saratoga. But it was just a stepping stone to where she was truly meant to be. “When I first moved here in 2013, my first friend in the Bay Area took me on a tour of San Francisco. Craftsman and Wolves was actually the first place he took me to,” she remembers. That visit to the famous modern patisserie left an indelible impression on the young baker. “I remember walking into Craftsman and Wolves and noticing the smell, the aesthetic, the atmosphere. It was just so cool.”
In 2021, after going through lockdown and giving birth to her son, Sam was itching to get back into the kitchen. “One day, I saw an ad for the executive pastry chef job at Craftsman and Wolves and I couldn’t believe it,” she says. “I applied and, within a day, they emailed me back.”
Even during the extensive interview process where she was tested on everything from laminations to confections to entremets, Sam knew she was exactly where she belonged. “Before I even got the job I said to myself, ‘I like this place. I’m gonna stay here,’” she recalls.
Sam and Lawrence Lai, the owner of Craftsman and Wolves, worked so seamlessly together that she considered Lawrence and his wife Ann to be her closest friends. But tragedy struck in April this year when Lawrence died of late-stage esophageal cancer. Sam and Ann were left to finish the job he’d started, opening their first Craftsman and Wolves outside of San Francisco less than two months after his passing. “The Mountain View store was the last thing Lawrence worked on and what he was training me to manage,” she says with emotion. “He asked for my input on every little thing and he valued my opinion. I felt heard, like he cared about me. So I want to keep his vision and make this place come to life.”
Lawrence managed the two San Francisco locations of Craftsman and Wolves like a family. It is now Sam’s goal to continue that legacy and foster the same kind of environment for the employees as well as their customers. “We have a very nurturing workplace. We make and share big family meals with each other, we celebrate each other’s birthdays, we give each other gifts during the holidays. It’s just a big family,” she says. “I want customers to know that everything we make here is with a lot of care and love. We aren’t pulling things out of a package. Everything is made from scratch and is well-thought-out, down to the gram.” She adds, “We’re making recipes that were inspired by my grandfather, my family and Lawrence.”
At the Mountain View location, find savory items like the famous ‘Rebel Within,’ a savory muffin with a perfectly runny soft boiled egg inside, as well as elegantly decorated desserts and confections, and a lunch menu that includes sandwiches and salads. “Everyone loves our house-made baguettes, sourdough and milk breads. But to have it on a sandwich that we’ve curated is another level,” Sam says proudly. “And I will always stand by my savory croissant. It’s got mortadella and Havarti cheese with a root vegetable confetti on top and a stoneground mustard-and-cornichon relish inside. It’s absolutely delicious.”
After four years, Sam knows that what she does at Craftsman and Wolves is more than just a job. She has found a place where she truly belongs and says it is a privilege to carry on the brand’s legacy. “It really doesn’t feel like work,” she says. “I wake up every day loving what I do and where I get to do it, so it doesn’t feel like a burden or a strain on me. I love it here.”
lovingly baked – craftsman-wolves.com
Strawberry Confiture Sam Ceccotti uses this simple berry filling in her pastries and desserts. Use a kitchen scale to measure the ingredients. Ingredients 650 grams strawberry puree 130 grams lemon juice 195 grams sugar 12 grams pectin 1 pinch citric acid 1 pinch salt 435 grams diced strawberries In a saucepan, bring the strawberry puree, lemon juice, sugar and pectin to a boil, then add salt and citric acid. Remove from heat and let it cool completely before adding the diced strawberries.