Pastry Chef Yulanda Santos of Dry Creek Kitchen at the Hotel Healdsburg - Biography

After several years in the banking industry, Yulanda Santos decided to turn her passion for baking into a career. She went to Tante Marie’s Cooking School in San Francisco where she graduated from the baking and pastry program. Santos’ life went from banking to baking in no time, and she’s never looked back.

Santos’ pastry career has taken her to several respectable kitchens, including those of One Market in San Francisco, Aqua and Aureole in Las Vegas, and George’s at the Cove in La Jolla, California. Her pastry knowledge expanded as she worked in these kitchens and her passion for baking only grew stronger.

Santos is currently the pastry chef at Charlie Palmer’s Dry Creek Kitchen in the heart of Sonoma County. She enjoys shopping at local farmers’ markets, especially the Healdsburg Farmer’s Market, where she finds her inspiration for her seasonal dessert menu. Santos also enjoys traveling the world to gain new experiences and bring new flavor profiles to her menu. She plans on eating her way through the world—as she says, “life couldn’t be sweeter.”