People and Culture: The Best of Brunch by Executive Pastry Chef Eddy Dhenin

As a celebration destination, Four Seasons Hotel Minneapolis is going all in on Easter Brunch. While the appetizers, main courses and sides all promise to be delicious, we highly suggest diners save plenty of room for Executive Pastry Chef Eddy Dhenin’s Dessert Table. The Eggs-Travaganza Sweet Landscape he’s creating is part of a years-long love story with pastries.

Falling in Love with Pastries

As a child in Saintes, France, a small, historic town on the west side of the country, food and cooking played a large part in Eddy’s life. Every Sunday, his family would spend all day cooking and then enjoy a big meal together.

He was also influenced by the country’s culinary culture, including notable French chefs such as Paul Bocuse and Christophe Michalak. “I watched everything on TV,” Eddy says. “I never dreamed of being a chef, I just dreamed of knowing how to do what great chefs do. And then I became a chef.”

After a brief detour into IT, Eddy attended culinary school, where he fell in love with pastries. “I believe pastry is art, and a pastry chef is an artist,” he says. “You can express yourself more with pastries.”

Working Across the Globe

His path to Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts started with a challenge. Eddy was working in a Michelin-starred restaurant in France when the retiring owner enlisted his son to take over — even though he had no restaurant knowledge.

“He said to me, ‘I’ll respect you if you show me what you can do.’ So I entered a competition.” Eddy competed in le Grand Marnier Trophée Espoir by FERRANDI Paris, and he made such an impression that he was recruited by a luxury hotel brand to work in Virginia, USA. When his visa was up, Four Seasons hired him to work in Dublin.

That was 14 years ago. Since his initial Four Seasons assignment, Eddy has worked across the globe, at Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica at Peninsula Papagayo (where at 26, he was the youngest executive pastry chef in the company), Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan, Four Seasons Resort Bali at Jimbaran Bay, Four Seasons Resort and Residences Anguilla and Four Seasons Resort Nevis. At each stop, Eddy found new opportunities to absorb ingredients, techniques and culture.

“We have Four Seasons everywhere, so how can we bring the experience of each place through food?” He notes his experiences in Asia were particularly impactful. “It opened me up a lot spiritually and helped me learn about flavours and plants that I had never tried, like sour and fermented flavours.”

Four Seasons Hotel Minneapolis

It was at Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica at Peninsula Papagayo that he met and befriended Martín Morelli, currently Executive Chef at Four Seasons Hotel Minneapolis.

“We always kept in touch, and he called me about coming to Minneapolis,” Eddy says. “I met Chef Gavin Kaysen, he told me his vison and we clicked well. Then he showed me the pastry shop, and it's one of the best pastry shops I’ve ever worked in. I had always worked at resorts, so I was ready for a new challenge — to open a city hotel in the United States.”

In his role, Eddy creates and oversees pastries and desserts at Socca Café, Mara and Riva Terrace — including Socca’s flaky croissants and Mara’s beloved flourless chocolate cake with mascarpone sorbet and chocolate cremeux. Eddy also leads dessert programs for in-room dining, events, and amenities at Four Seasons Hotel Minneapolis.

Recent creations include gourmet Minnesota-shaped s’mores and a painting made of frosting modelled after Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night for art-loving guests. Other creations include perfectly decorated monarch shortbread cookies — the State Butterfly of Minnesota — and honeycrisp apple hand pies – honeycrisp is the Minnesota State Fruit – served with apple chips and hard cider.

Eddy says his philosophy is all about perfection — though with pastries, perfection is a moving target. “I might have the same recipe, but the quality of air, the humidity, the flour, the sugar — it’s not the same [between locations]. But we need to have the same quality every day. Let’s say the recipe says five minutes, but you have to feel it, and touch it, because it’s a live dough. That’s what I teach: perfection.”

Making a Difference

Eddy’s flour-dusted fingerprints are all over Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts across the globe. He is often tapped to run culinary trainings at other properties to share his techniques, experience and wisdom, ensuring Four Seasons pastry programs are always meeting, if not exceeding, the exceptional standard guests have come to expect. So how does he help craft the next generation of pastry chefs?

“I believe it’s passion first,” he says. “If you don’t want to be here, don’t be. Next, it’s discipline. Don’t take shortcuts. And finally, timing, perfection and attention to details.”

As he continues his career with Four Seasons — now making his mark in Minneapolis — he continues to find inspiration outside the kitchen.

“I love art,” he says. “I see a piece of art and I think, why don’t we put it on the plate? I love nature, too, and bringing nature to the table as well.” He connects with nature through bike rides in the Minnesota River Valley with friend and fellow chef Martín, paints at home to decompress, and works out every morning at 5:15 am, six days a week.  

While Eddy’s career has been marked by consistent growth as well as global accolades — including a nod for 10 Best Desserts in Asia Pacific and a spot at Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts Top Chef competition — it’s working with young pastry chefs that he considers the most important part of his job.

“I love the phrase that success is not what you have accomplished, it’s knowing that what you do makes a difference in people’s lives,” he says. “What I have experienced, if I can translate it, maybe it can help teach others.”