Santa Rosa Junior College Culinary Arts alumnus Robert Nieto is representing the US this week at a major international competition in France. The USA Pastry Team will compete in the Mondial des Arts Sucres (MDAS) in Paris. The team is composed of three pastry chefs: Oscar Ortega (coach, left, Wyoming), Rhonda Ashton (chef, center, Wyoming), and Robert Nieto (chef, right, California). They have intensively prepared for the grueling 2-day (19 hours) "sugar race" on Feb 5th and 6th.

Robert Nieto, nicknamed "Buttercup," is the award-winning head pastry chef at Kendall Jackson Wines. Dessert Professional Magazine named him as one of the Top 10 Pastry Chefs in America, in 2016. He worked in renowned Las Vegas hotels as Bellagio, Paris Las Vegas, and the Venetian, then in restaurants as Chef Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bistro, and, more recently, at Madrona Manor restaurant in Sonoma County. Robert is also a triathlon enthusiast and competed in several editions of the Iron Man.

Let's all cheer for Chef Buttercup and the USA Pastry Team!