Aria has named Elissa Hayward executive pastry chef, adding another creative voice to a team where ideas already move between the kitchen, pastry, bar, and wine programs.
Hayward reunites with executive chef Austin Goetzman, with whom she previously worked at Lazy Betty, and joins bar lead Eric Simpkins and lead sommelier and assistant general manager Princeton Saunders as the group continues developing, tasting, and exchanging ideas across their respective areas.
That collaboration is already taking shape. Hayward and Saunders have been tasting wines for a red wine sorbet, and conversations with Simpkins about smoked flavors have connected what is happening in pastry with what’s happening behind the bar. She and Goetzman regularly taste one another’s work, continuing a creative relationship they first developed while working together previously.
“Elissa’s approach immediately stood out to us,” says owner Andrés Loaiza. “She understands the entire kitchen, not just one part of it, and that comes through in the way she thinks about dessert. She has a strong technical foundation, but she also brings curiosity and personality to what she creates. We’re excited to give her the room to explore that at Aria.”
For Hayward, joining Aria is an opportunity to develop her own style while working alongside a team whose individual specialties often inform one another.
“I think what is exciting is that everyone is really immersed in their own area, but we’re still constantly talking and tasting together,” says Hayward. “Austin is focused on the savory menu, Eric and Princeton are bringing new ideas to the bar and wine programs, and I’m focused on pastry. We all have our own areas, but there is a lot of opportunity for those ideas to come together.”
An early glimpse of her approach appears in a dessert Hayward is beginning to develop, featuring smoked vanilla mousse (pictured below), green apple, turmeric, brown butter crumble, and caramel. The combination reflects several elements of her style: familiar flavors and classical technique paired with unexpected ingredients, contrasting textures, and a subtle savory influence.
Hayward’s path to pastry has shaped the way she approaches dessert. She trained in both culinary arts and baking and pastry, then spent much of her early career on the savory side of the kitchen before choosing to focus fully on pastry several years ago. Her experience includes time at Bouchon Bistro in California and, most recently, The Deer and the Dove in Decatur.
That background still influences her work. Hayward gravitates toward French classics and traditional technique, but she is equally interested in texture, unexpected flavors, and the memories certain ingredients can evoke. A dessert might recall fall, a childhood favorite, or time spent around a campfire, then reinterpret that feeling through a more refined lens.
“I love the classics, but I also love playing with nostalgia and finding ways to make something feel familiar and new at the same time,” says Hayward. “There can be something playful about the flavors while there is still a lot of technique behind them. That combination is what I’m always drawn to.”
At Aria, Hayward wants pastry to carry the same attention to detail as the savory menu while still giving guests a final course that can surprise them.
“I’m excited to involve guests in the pastry side of the menu in the same way they experience the savory side,” says Hayward. “I want dessert to feel like part of the complete meal, with just as much thought behind it, while also giving guests something they may not have expected.”
