When Oceanside native Gianna Buzzetta landed the prestigious job of pastry chef at Michelin-starred Jeune et Jolie restaurant in Carlsbad in the summer of 2022, she was just 23 years old. But anyone who knew the talented young cook knew she was on a high-speed climb to the top.
“I’m 100 percent a workaholic,” she told the Union-Tribune in September 2022. “I have been working nonstop since 17 and have always had a job. At one time, I had three jobs at once.”
Unfortunately, Buzzetta’s future was cut tragically short last week, when she was struck in the head by a boulder while hiking with her boyfriend March 23 on the remote Makaleha Falls trail in Kauai, Hawaii. She was 26 when she died in a Honolulu hospital the next day.
John Resnick, the owner of Jeune et Jolie, where Buzzetta formerly worked, is hosting a fundraising dinner service at the restaurant on Monday, April 7, to help her family cover the more than $225,000 in medical, transportation and burial costs.
The restaurant is normally closed on Mondays, but the staff is stepping in to serve its regular tasting menu that night on the family’s behalf. The restaurant’s OpenTable reservation list shows that almost every table Monday has been booked.
“Gianna was an absolutely incredible human, and a true pleasure to work alongside,” Resnick said in a statement. “Over the three years she was with us at Jeune, we were lucky enough to be with someone who was talented, hungry, curious, compassionate … and spicy. Everyone who worked alongside her was better off for it. And if you get to spend any time with her parents, you’ll see where her joy, kindness and selflessness came from. Our entire team at Jeune is really missing her.”
“On Monday, we look forward to doing what we can to help support the beautiful Buzzetta family, and will always be here for them, as they will forever be a part of this community,” Resnick said.
Family work ethic
In 2022, Buzzetta credited her family for instilling in her the work ethic she was known for. She credited her achievement to her inexhaustible work ethic, which was born when she started working at age 12 for her mom Caty’s event-and-florist business.
Born and raised in an Italian-Guatemalan household in Oceanside, Buzzetta learned to cook at home and gravitated toward baking because she loved the science of it and she didn’t eat meat. Her first restaurant job, in high school, was at Veggie Grill. When she graduated, she spent two years at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa. While there, she had externships at two Michelin-starred restaurants in Los Angeles: Spago and the now-closed Patina.
After her time at the institute, she returned home to work pastry at the former Herringbone restaurant in La Jolla, then double-timed working mornings at Dija Mara in Oceanside and afternoons and evenings at Wild Thyme Catering Co. in San Diego. Then she was a corporate pastry chef at Puesto. While working at Jeune et Jolie, she also started a private specialty cake business on the side.
Her favorite style of plated desserts incorporated all-natural ingredients, both sweet and savory, with many components, including seasonal ingredients, herbs, micro flowers, textures and colors.
“I don’t like super sweet stuff,” she said. “It’s not about giving you sugar pow. It’s about simplicity.”
According to the fundraising page on GiveSendGo.com and a report on 10News, Buzzetta and her boyfriend Connor Quentin were standing in a pool at the foot of a waterfall when a boulder became dislodged overhead and struck her in the head.
Buzzetta’s father, Sal, told 10News that Quentin pulled the unconscious Buzzetta from the water but had no cell phone service to call for help, so he ran three miles to reach rescue services.
Restaurant industry steps up for California pastry chef who was killed by a boulder in Hawaii
