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People of The Institute       Alumni Profiles         Nicole Kaplan, Culinary Arts '97   Nicole Kaplan, now in her second year as pastry chef at 11 Madison Park, has nothing but respect for the hard work that a professional kitchen requires. "It's not a job for movie stars," she laughs, after reporting that she puts in 12-hour days Kaplan credits her experience as a work-study student at the Institute with preparing her for the atmosphere of a professional kitchen. "As a work-study student I got a really good feel for the work ethic," she says. "A lot of people are shocked at their first restaurant jobs, but I knew what to expect." She segued from an externship at Osteria del Circo to a position as the restaurant's sous pastry chef. After three years there, she accepted her current job at Eleven Madison Park, one of four popular New York City restaurants owned by Danny Meyer Kaplan, who was formerly a professional flutist, studied in the Culinary Arts program, although she was already drawn to the pastry kitchen. "Culinary Arts gives you a good overview," she recalls, "but I like pastry because I find it more scientific. I like putting things in their place, and I'm very detail-oriented, which is required for this kind of work." Back when she was still a self-described "starving musician," Kaplan spent a lot of time experimenting with recipes from various magazines; now her own work is appearing in them. Recently, The New York Times Magazine published her recipe for gougères, and she created a spread on pineapple in the magazine Art Culinaire.