OCEAN CTIY — The Ocean City Hotel-Motel-Restaurant Association Expo will will feature sugar artist Chef Steven Weiss in the ballroom next month.
Appearing on Food Network’s “Sugar Inventions” six times and on the network’s “Sugar Impossible, Flying Sugar and Pastry Daredevils,” Weiss is a true professional.
Currently, he is the Hospitality and Culinary Arts Program coordinator for Blue Ridge Community & Technical College in Martinsburg, W.Va. His specialty is sugar work, a process that melts sugar that he then he molds into artistic pieces. His motto has been learning not to give up, in the end — you must complete your task and have fun doing it. “If you don’t try, the end result is always a mystery,” said Weiss.
Born in Newburgh, N.Y. located in the Hudson River Valley, living in a predominately Italian household, Weiss was introduced to many wonderful ingredients and foods. However, becoming a chef was not on the radar at that time, the culinary bug didn’t catch hold right away. He went to Duchess Community College where he minored in Electromechanical Technologies finally receiving a degree in the Graphic Arts. From there, he moved to Carlisle, Pa. where his parents had just opened a small Italian restaurant. While working there for a year, he decided that culinary school was the next step. He then enrolled and graduated with honors from Baltimore’s Culinary College with a degree in the Baking and Pastry Arts.
A highlight of his career was winning gold at the 2000 Culinary Olympic Tryouts in New York for Pastry where Weiss was asked to become a member of the 2000 Eastern Regional Culinary Olympic Team that competes worldwide.
Expo attendees next month can watch his amazing talents during the Expo, beginning at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, March 9 and at noon on Monday, March 10. He will be located on the second level in booth #2000-2001.