Pastry chef and owner of Bayou Bakery in Arlington, Va., Guas did not plan a career in pastry. His Cuban and Louisianan heritage and a childhood spent in New Orleans (a city with rich culinary traditions) instilled a reverence for good, nurturing food and the joy in preparing it. But Guas attributes his career’s success to persistence, patience and saying “yes” to everything.

Guas is upfront about his school days, “It wasn’t for me,” he says.  “I wasn’t a star student. I was the one daydreaming and looking out the window. I wanted to be outside playing sports.” School might not have inspired, but cooking classic Louisiana dishes like shrimp Creole and banana bread with his Aunt Boo did. “At Aunt Boo’s house, the kitchen was sacred,” he writes in his cookbook. “The most important lesson that I learned from her was that there’s a time for fun, and a time to be serious, and cooking good, honest food was a serious matter.”

Inspiration from a Cheese Steak
College didn’t interest the rebellious teenager and Guas got a job “slinging steak” in a local cheese-steak shop. Perhaps an unlikely place to discover your life’s work, but the experience gave Guas a direction. “I loved the fact that I could make something from my own hands in a couple of minutes (in this case a cheesesteak) and instantly satisfy someone and get a compliment.” The revelation sent Guas to Sclafani Cooking School in Metairie, La. There was little pastry training involved. Once out of school, Guas says he tried anything, including cooking on an oil rig.

In 1996, after some persistence, Guas landed a job at the Windsor Court Hotel in New Orleans, a luxury hotel with Mobil Four Stars and AAA Four Diamonds designations. Originally, Guas applied for a job in the savory kitchen, but they weren’t hiring, so he convinced Kurt Ebert, a master pastry chef from Germany, to take him on in the pastry department. “I intended to use pastry as a way to get into the kitchen,” Guas says, “but the work was physically challenging like sports, which I liked. I was young and hungry and I knew I needed to learn something fast.” Here Guas prepared thousands of desserts each week. He also became acquainted with Jeff Tunks, the Windsor’s executive chef. Eventually, Tunks, who had taken notice of Guas’ drive and talent, invited him to join the opening team of his new restaurant, DC Coast, in Washington, D.C. Guas said yes.

In D.C., Guas kept his head down and worked on style. “I learned what people want,” he says. “I didn’t try to create things that were architecturally mind blowing.” Guas believes that the desserts he likes to produce will never go out of style—comforting, nostalgic desserts, which are delicious and recognizable.

And then in 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, devastating the neighborhood Guas grew up in. “It was an emotional time for me and my family,” he says.  “The decision not to move back was difficult.” To honor and preserve the New Orleans’ food and institutions he remembered, Guas wrote DamGoodSweet: Desserts to Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth, New Orleans Style. The book, a cookbook, travelogue and memoir, offers 50 recipes complemented with stories of famous restaurants, sweet shops, culinary traditions and family.

From Pastry Chef to Entrepreneur
It is one thing to cook, but owning and operating a business takes other skills. As the corporate pastry chef for Passion Food Hospitality, Guas developed the dessert menus for each of Tunks’ new D.C. restaurants, TenPenh, Ceiba and Acadiana.  After a decade, Guas left to say yes to his own entrepreneurial path. “Opening a business is about persistence,” he says. “It’s a tough industry and it took a good two years of telling myself it will come.” Guas spent the time perfecting the concept, defining the demographics, searching for the ideal location, bouncing back from a failed partnership, and listening and learning from those who had experience. “I learned early on to shut up and listen. To be open. I’m still doing that.”

The much-awaited result, Bayou Bakery, Coffee Bar & Eatery, located in Arlington, Va., opened in late 2010. It’s a nostalgic tribute to New Orleans, where patrons can try boudin and andouille sausage, jambalaya, beignets, chicory-coffee pralines and Red Velvet cupcakes. The concept is a day and evening gathering place where one is welcome to stop by for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, a snack or drink.

Guas still finds time to indulge his boyhood love of the outdoors. He is a founding member of District Hogs—a group of local restaurant professionals who ride their motorcycles for fun, research and charity. “I surround myself with other people who do what I want to do,” he says. And in fact, his hunting-fishing-riding buddies are fellow chefs, restaurateurs and artisan producers.

The ability required to manifest career good fortune rarely comes easy; it’s a culmination of years of hard work. “I kept proving myself by producing quality products and I had a good attitude,” says Guas.  “I didn’t just show up on time. It’s not about being punctual. I showed up 15 minutes early.” After 15 years, Guas feels “he is just getting started.”  “I am at the beginning of my career,” he says. “I’m now at the helm and the future is wide open. That is all very exciting.”

Lynn Schwartz, a former New York City restaurateur, is a writer based in Maryland.