Pastry Chef-Owner, Roman Holiday Gelato; St. Helena, CA

Elisha Smiley is the pastry chef and owner of Roman Holiday Gelato, in St. Helena, California. Though she began her career as a tax accountant, she quickly shifted gears to pursue her passion for baking by studying pastry at the California Culinary Academy. Her first pastry job was as a viennoiserie at Model Bakery in St. Helena, then she transitioned to restaurants, working on the opening team of Murray Circle Restaurant at the Cavallo Point Resort. Smiley continued in the Bay Area restaurant scene on the opening team of Prospect, starting as a pastry cook and leaving as pastry sous chef. In 2012, she traveled Europe, staging at Mugaritz in Spain and various restaurants across London. Back in the states, Smiley landed as pastry chef at Graham Elliot in Chicago, pastry sous chef at Marea in New York City, and then executive pastry chef of Delfina Restaurant Group in San Francisco. It was here that discovered her passion for gelato and attended Gelato University in Bologna, Italy.  Post-pandemic, she taught baking and pastry at The Culinary Institute of America.  Just recently, she has opened her first business, Roman Holiday Gelato, to share her love of this Italian frozen treat with the first community she worked in.