Christina Tosi, the James Beard Award-winning pastry chef behind Momofuku Milk Bar in New York and Toronto, is coming home. This year Tosi—who grew up in Springfield—will open a branch of her quirky bakery in CityCenterDC, next to sister restaurant Momofuku. Can’t wait that long for Tosi’s playful sweets? Check out her second cookbook, Milk Bar Life, out this month. We spoke to Tosi about her memories of growing up—and eating—in the Washington burbs.
What do you remember about growing up in the area?
Most of my memories are of softball games in Falls Church with my sister, yard sales across town on the weekends with my grandma, grocery-shopping and errand-running with my mom, learning to drive an old Volkswagen bug down Old Keene Mill Road with my dad.
Where were some of your favorite places to eat?
Both of my parents worked incredibly hard, and eating out was a treat. Dinners on the go—en route to a cross-country race, school event, or softball practice—were the norm. My fondest memories of eating out were our trips to Baskin-Robbins on Thursday nights, if my older sister and I had behaved the week prior, and sliding into a booth at Springfield Pizzeria or Delia’s for mozzarella sticks and a cheese pizza. Ding How Carry Out’s egg rolls were always a treat. For really big occasions, we’d dine out with neighbors across the street, on a big bowl of red sauce at Bonaroti in Vienna or Argia’s in Falls Church.
What about now?
I love checking out aspiring bakers’ offerings at local farmers markets when the weather is nice. My older sis, who lives in Reston, does the vetting and gives me the tour when I come home for a slumber party.
This article appears in our April 2015 issue of Washingtonian.
