Fork. Spoon. Life.: Bayside native takes her artistic talents into the kitchen

Growing up in Bayside, Anna Posey loved to bake. Betty Crocker’s Silver White Cake became her go-to, and her dad still loves that recipe.

Posey, who studied art and painting at Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, went down a few different paths before realizing she might actually be able to bake for a living. She went to Chicago’s French Pastry School, got a job at Blackbird and met a cute guy. He just happened to be the chef, James Beard nominee David Posey.

Six years later, they’re a married couple working on opening their first restaurant, Elske, at 1350 W. Randolph St. in Chicago’s West Loop in late October or early November.

Art and food are the two constant themes in her life, and you can look for her art on the menus and at annaposeyart.com.

Blackbird beginnings

I went to French Pastry School. A girlfriend and I both wanted to get internships. She was the one who said Blackbird is the best place in the city, so we went to Blackbird. My time was split; I was at (Paul Kahan’s) Publican, too. I was there for about three months.

There was this guy, and I thought he was really cute and I was kind of joking around with him. Then one of his friends said, “Hey chef, can you look at this for me?”

Then I was like, 'Oh my God, this is THE chef.' I was very embarrassed. We kind of talked, and after I left Publican, he messaged me and asked me if I wanted to hang out. It was crazy that this chef du cuisine would like a lowly intern. We’ve been together for six years now. It was a nice romantic story, and it worked out.

Family food

My mom’s a really good cook, and my dad cooks, too. Mom’s a painter, and her first career was as a graphic designer, then she became a jewelry designer.

My mom’s side is all painters and designers. Creativity runs in the family. I’ve always been drawn to the fine arts, painting and drawing.

I went to Nicolet High School. I went to MIAD and got a bachelor of arts in painting and drawing. Then it is, what you do when you have this painting degree?

They do a great job of making you feel confident with yourself as an artist, but the real world is a lot different.

I decided to reevaluate what I wanted, and I knew I wanted to do something hands-on. I did a couple more internships — graphic design, interior design. I’ve been baking my whole life, from when my mom would let me use the stove. There’s this one Betty Crocker cake I’d make over and over again and decorate with sugar. Oh my God, I could do that for a living!

Benefits of baking

You will still be learning till the day you die, and that’s really attractive to me.

The art of eating

I’m going to do the wallpaper for the bathrooms. Everything is going to be neutral, but the bathroom (décor) is going to be special.

We’ll have a menu that changes frequently, so I’ll do my ink drawings, like a radish or whatever is in season. The menu will always have a piece of my art.

We’re going to be closed every Sunday and Monday, but we’ve talked about doing Sunday suppers or special dinners with posters, like a band poster.

Besides that, David’s brother is an amazing painter who we are both in love with: Mark Posey, and he is based in LA. His stuff is unbelievable, and we want that to be the focus when you walk in. We want the whole bar back to be one of his pieces.

Cravings

My personal favorite is a dark chocolate chip cookie, stuffed with dark chocolate, a lot of sea salt.

In her kitchen

David cooks literally every night. Now that we’re basically working on a restaurant we have a lot of free time. We’ll have breakfast and think about what we’ll have for dinner. We have rice bowls a lot. We make sushi rice and go to the farmers market and get vegetables.

If a normal person came to our house, they’d be surprised at the condiments. We have an outrageous amount of condiments.

First thing she wanted on her menu

A meringue. I seem to use it a lot. That was one of the first dishes I put on at Publican. It is one of those dishes that you look back on and think, “My style has changed so much.”

Current ingredient obsession

Recently I’ve tried making a butter mochi cake. I like that chewy ice cream you get mixed with cake. A lot of the Asian cultures use a lot of gummy textures I’ve been into lately.

Milwaukee must-eats

We always go to Ardent. Those guys are so amazing, and they’ve taken us in like family. The ramen is the best at Red Light Ramen.

I really need to take David to Real Chili, because I love it. We go to Goodkind in Bay View, Bryant’s, Foundation, Beans & Barley. I’ve taken him to Anodyne for pizza. I used to live behind Lulu’s. Their Asian slaw is so good!

Fork. Spoon. Life. explores the everyday relationship that local notables (within the food community and without) have with food. To suggest future personalities to profile, email nstohs@journalsentinel.com.