Eric Pombier

My signature dish has to be one of my homemade pies, probably the blueberry. I grew up with all girl cousins and whenever we visited the grandparents house I would either play the "monster" in all the games, or spend my time in the kitchen with Grandma (I preferred the kitchen). She always had either cinnamon rolls or fresh pie in the works and I unknowingly was training for the rest of my adult life. Every summer we gathered blueberries and she would bake a special treat, blueberry pi

My inspiration and reason I choose San Francisco for culinary school is definitely Thomas Keller. I wanted so bad to train under him that I drove to the French Laundry and sat in the parking lot for over 2 hours, waiting for my nerves to calm down. Unknowingly I walked to the kitchen door and when I opened the door and TK was standing, clipboard in one hand and a banana in the other! I ended up getting an internship at Bouchon next door because someone didn't show up that morning! Thank God!

I would use the 25000 to buy a plot of land to build a commercial kitchen so I could use it for pie production. I will plant fruit trees and eventually hope to build a small log cabin on the property. I'm hoping to also start a class to teach the unemployed, homeless, and people recently released from incarcerated how to cook basic skills to get them the skills needed to be successful.